


Iridescence

by OkaAyamo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friendship/Love, Light-Hearted, Male-Female Friendship, POV Third Person Limited, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27414130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OkaAyamo/pseuds/OkaAyamo
Summary: Reserved and quiet, it's hard to tell what Asami is feeling behind her stoic mask. When her classmate and friend, Yachi, asked her to accompany her to visit and eventually join Karasuno High volleyball club as a manager, she expected nothing. She didn't think that a certain black-haired setter would become her friend...and more. Started in anime 2nd season. Slow burn.Main pairing Kageyama/OC, slight mentions of other pairingsCross-posting from ff.net under the same title and account name
Relationships: Kageyama Tobio/Original Female Character(s), Shimizu Kiyoko/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Tsukishima Kei/Original Female Character(s), Yachi Hitoka/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	1. (Almost) New Managers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi there, I'm new to AO3 but I've been hanging out at ff.net for some time. I'm exploring this uncharted territory since I have heard about this platform several times. Feedbacks are greatly welcomes because I'm seriously not familiar with how AO3 works :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Haikyuu! but I do own my OC(s) and this fanfic's plot.

* * *

" _What do I do? What do I do?"_ Yachi thought in panic, pacing nervously.

She has just impulsively said yes to the third year's request to visit Karasuno High School volleyball club practice in prospect of her becoming a manager. In truth, she was too immersed in admiring her senior's beauty and responded without thinking. Her senior would meet her again after school so she could visit the club. She was nervous because she had no idea about volleyball.

Sighing, she entered her classroom, contemplating what she had to do after school. It was almost the end of the break time. As the light-brown-haired girl returned to her seat, she noticed her close friend who was sitting behind her. The quiet girl was absentmindedly folding an origami flower, her hands moving in an almost automatic manner, while her dark blue eyes wander to the view outside the window. She had her earphones on, almost as if she wanted to separate herself from her surroundings.

Although her first friend in high school had the tendency to tune out her surroundings, Yachi actually found her interesting and easy to talk to. The girl might not be fully aware of what was happening around her, but when someone talked to her, she would give that person her undivided attention. This was something Yachi really appreciated. Both of them were not in any club – yet – and they had good time talking about their interests and any other random stuffs.

If there was someone she could ask to join her after school, it would be Fuji. Yachi sat down and turned on her seat to face her friend.

"Fuji-chan," she called.

No reply

"Fuji-chan," she called for the second time, waving her hand in front of the absentminded girl's face.

No reply, again

"Asami Fuji!" She called her friend's full name loudly.

"Hmm?" Finally, the girl finally looked at her. She calmly put down her finished flower-shaped origami and took off her earphones. "What is it, Hitoka-chan?"

Smiling nervously, she asked, "Are you free after school today?"

Her friend looked blankly at her. Her right hand slowly twirled the small braided section of her shoulder-length hair on the right side of her face. For people who didn't know Asami, they would think she was ignoring Yachi. Fortunately, Yachi had known her for some time to understand that the gesture meant that her friend was thinking. The black head seemed to start listing things which she had to do after school, whatever they were.

"I guess I am. Why?" she replied, leaning back on her chair.

Yachi smiled happily, grabbing her friend's hands which were on the table. "Great! Let's go together then!"

Blinking, Asami quietly asked, "Sorry, what?"

* * *

Standing outside her classroom with her bag slung on her right shoulder, Asami continued to fold her origami paper. Her good friend has asked her to accompany her to visit one of the school's sports club after school ended. She could not reject when Yachi looked at her almost in tears. Her brown-eyed friend had the tendency to panic over many things and got nervous easily. In contrast, shel was calmer to the extent that she seemed ignorant about people.

"Sorry, Fuji-chan! I'm done!" Yachi came out of their class.

Their last class ended about 10 minutes ago. Asami was quick to pack up her stuff, but Yachi was a nervous wreck – Asami was still wondering why her friend was panicking – which caused her to keep checking everything repeatedly. Even as they stood outside the class, Yachi kept tidying up her uniform and checking her bangs.

"Where's your bag?" she asked, noticing her friend not bringing anything.

"Ah, since we are only saying 'hi' today, I figure I will come back to class to get my bag later," the brown head replied, smiling nervously.

Asami nodded, inspecting her folds on the paper. As she was folding to the next step, she heard the sound of footsteps.

"Sorry, do I keep you waiting?" She heard a mature, feminine voice speaking.

As she looked toward the direction the voice coming from, she saw a pretty and tall senior coming towards them. She stood in front of them and smiled. With her silky hair reaching slightly over her shoulders, fair skin, and a beauty mark near her lips, the first year could not help but stare. It was not often that she got caught off guard by a fellow female, but well, this senior is particularly a beauty.

Her short time of admiring the senior was stopped by the voice of Yachi who was standing next to her. "N-no at all!" Her friend stammered a bit.

She kind of understood why Yachi was so nervous – who wouldn't when someone so pretty was standing so close to them?

"And you are?" The senior seemed to notice her. Of course, initially it was only Yachi who was going to meet her, so having another person tagging along might have confused her a bit.

"I'm accompanying her," Asami said as she looked at Yachi who was still squirming a bit in anxiety. "My name is Asami Fuji."

The bespectacled girl smiled. "I'm Shimizu Kiyoko. Can I ask whether you are interested to join Karasuno High volleyball club as a manager?

She stopped folding her origami, maintaining a blank look. Although she could hear distantly the senior asking Yachi whether she was okay and in turn, her friend explaining to Shimizu that Asami was in her thinking mode, she did not bother to reply. Her brain was going through the additional info which her close friend had forgotten to mention. Although Yachi mentioned sports club, she did not specify that it was volleyball club.

She had never been fond of any sports, but she remembered when she was very young, her babysitter used to make her watch volleyball matches in television. Her babysitter was an avid fan of volleyball – being a volleyball player herself – and she always explained to her whatever was going on in the matches. Sometimes, she even taught her how to serve and spike. She hated to exercise, but the time spent playing with her babysitter playing toss and receiving one were surprisingly enjoyable. Growing up, it was a pretty good memory she had of her childhood.

Now that she was in high school and not being in any club yet, she guessed it was no harm to relive what she liked to do when she was a child. If there was any sports she could understand and appreciate, it would be volleyball.

Finally, she replied, "Yeah, sure. No harm trying."

"Really?" She heard a chorus from both her senior and her friend. One in an excited tone, while the other in slight disbelief and shock.

She nodded once in affirmation.

Yachi was literally looking at her with her mouth opened.

Shimizu smiled and her eyes lit up a bit. "Then, both of you will be on trial basis as managers. Is it okay?"

The two first years nodded in agreement, to which the senior also nodded.

"Let's get going then. Let's introduce the two of you to the team," the senior continued, walking away while indicating to Asami and Yachi to follow her.

* * *

"Do you have a moment?"

Kageyama and the rest of the team heard the voice of the manager of the club from the entrance. Everyone stopped warming up and looked at her. Behind her was two girls, one was hiding behind Shimizu's back and the other was simply standing there.

"You finally found a new person!" Hinata's voice boomed in the hall.

One of the girl flinched a bit at the voice, but the other one was just unfazed.

Somehow the new black-haired girl sort of reminded him of Tsukishima's calmness, but without his glares.

As Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Sugawara approached the three girls, the brown-haired girl flinched again.

"What is it?" Tanaka asked cheerfully.

"What's going on?" Sugawara questioned.

Shimizu looked towards the two girls. "Um, these two will be joining as new managers on a trial basis."

"I-I'm Yachi Hitoka!" the one with brown hair said while clenching her fists.

As he walked toward them, the seniors sounded relief and happy to hear the news that they are having new managers. As Asahi asked the brown-haired girl whether she was a first-year student, the girl again answered in panic, obviously freaking out. He observed that she was very jumpy, while the other girl – who was yet to introduce herself – was really calm. Although the rest of her body was unmoving, her hands was carefully folding a paper. He wondered what she was doing with the paper. Again, her 'I-don't-care attitude' kind of reminded him of a certain blonde bespectacled teammate.

"Well, they haven't officially joined yet," Shimizu explained, "Asami-chan, do you want to introduce yourself?"

The one called "Asami-chan" stopped folding her paper. The black-haired girl bowed a bit before introducing herself with an almost monotonous voice. "First year class 5, Asami Fuji."

Kageyama twitched a bit. " _Even the way she talked and introduced herself sounds like Tsukishima…_ " He had a feeling he would be annoyed at her if she turned out to be like the tall blonde.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," both the two new manager-to-be said at the same time and bowed.

"Same here!" The whole team replied at the same time with a loud voice, causing a surprise shriek to escape from Yachi's mouth. Asami simply blinked.

Shimizu gently asked the team to not surround the new girls until they are more comfortable. Well, from what he observed, Kageyama was pretty sure that the black-haired first year looked pretty comfortable, only one was jumpy and tense. Nonetheless, the team backed up a bit so there was more space between them and the new girls.

"Well, two of you, thank you for coming, you can leave anytime you want for today. I will see you again tomorrow after school," Shimizu told the two. "Please wear the school gym clothes or something comfortable for tomorrow."

Yachi nodded and seemed eager to leave. "U-understood! L-let's go, Fuji-chan!"

"Actually," Asami replied her friend, "Can I stay a bit longer?"

That sentence earned her a surprise look from her friend and a confused look from the rest of the team, including Kageyama. He thought it was only going to be a short visit, but this girl wanted to stay longer. He noticed that, the silence actually caused her expression to change slightly. Her sleepy and blank face turned slightly concerned and confused one as she looked around at the people around her. After a moment of awkward quietness, she broke it.

"Is it no good?" She asked, tilting her head slightly to the right.

The first to recover from the shock was the second-year duo.

"OF COURSE IT'S OKAY!" Tanaka and Nishinoya answered in unison, giving her a thumb-up, seemingly happy that one of the girls want to stay for a bit more. It was probably because, with another girl around, they would be able to see Shimizu talking more than usual. Or it could be that the little tilting head gesture looked somewhat cute with her neutral, almost innocent expression.

"W-well, I will leave first then." The whole team quietly watched as Yachi, smiling nervously, slowly walked towards the entrance door. "S-sorry for the interruption."

* * *

"See you later, Hitoka-chan," She said quietly as she waved to her friend. Yachi nodded and closed the door.

She heard Shimizu explained to the rest of the team that she thought it was important to find a new manager with Karasuno growing stronger. However, she was a bit surprised to see four people cried because they were touched by her words.

" _The volleyball team looks pretty interesting_ ," she thought.

"Of course we are!" The senior with a dirty blonde tiny tuft in his hair exclaimed.

Asami blinked. "Did I just say that aloud?"

The rest of the team nodded. She sighed, twirling the braided section of her hair with her right hand, and murmured an apology. "Sorry, I tend to say things aloud without realizing."

"Hey, what is that paper you are holding?" Someone with orange hair was suddenly in front of her, staring closely at the paper she was holding near her chest.

Out of nowhere, the grey-haired senpai pulled him back. "Hinata, you're too close!"

Asami casually waved it off. "It's okay. By the way, the paper is this."

Lifting the completed folded origami crane slightly, she tugged on the tail part gently, causing the wings of the paper crane to flap. The movement of the wings caused some of the team members to go "Ooohh" while getting close to see the flapping origami crane. She noticed the people who got close was the shortest senior, the orange-haired guy, the bald senior, and a black-haired guy with kind of sharp eyes.

"Okay, that's enough, guys. Don't scare our new manager." She heard someone with a deep voice said while clapping his hand, earning the attention of the whole team. She assumed that he was the captain. "Let's go back to training!"

With a chorus of " _All right!_ " the team returned back to whatever they were doing before Yachi and she came. After the guys resumed their practice – the coach came not too long after Yachi left – Shimizu approached her and apologize for the guys' antics. Asami simply shrugged it off. She talked to Shimizu for a bit about what the manager did in general and watched the practice for a while before she was going to leave.

She noticed the regulars were pretty good, albeit her not knowing any of their names. Well, she would start remembering them if she officially joined as a manager. The orange-haired guy was short but he jumped insanely high. The bespectacled guy looked not interested in practice, but he was tall and blocked pretty well. The seniors were all obviously skilled, but the one she noticed the most was the black-haired guy with mean eyes. He was the setter of the team, but he looked somewhat familiar. She must have seen him somewhere before.

But where?

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Thank you for reading!_


	2. Observing the Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Btw this fanfic follows the anime storyline

* * *

She stared hard at the vending machine, unable to decide what she would like to drink. Asami could have her usual menu for lunch – strawberry milk – but they just added a new item to the machine, banana milk. While she liked strawberry milk, she wondered how the banana milk would taste. She liked her routine, but there are times she felt she wanted to try something new. On that particular day, the black-haired girl felt that she should try something novel.

Nodding to herself, she raised her hand to press the button for banana milk…

…when someone bumped into her, causing her to press the wrong button.

Instead of banana milk, she accidentally chose a peach tea.

She stopped moving for a while, her finger still resting on the button. Inside her head, she was having an internal discussion whether to waste her money and buy banana milk or just bear with the tea. After a moment of quietness, Asami shrugged and took the can of peach tea. She figured that there was nothing to lose by trying new stuff.

With the can in her hand, the blue-eyed girl walked back to her classroom. What she did not expect was meeting two people from the volleyball club as she reached her classroom door.

"Ah," the three of them said at the same time. She remembered the faces of the two people whom she just saw the previous day.

"Asami-san, nice timing!" The boy with the orange hair said with loud voice. Behind him was the tall guy with black hair, giving her a miniscule nod.

In contrast to the orange-haired guy, Asami replied with a monotonous voice, skillfully hiding her surprise. "What is so nice about the timing?"

"Can you help us study?" He asked, showing his notebook, ignoring her question blatantly.

The black-haired girl stared at them weirdly, trying to connect the non-existent dots. Why in the world was he asking her to help them study? Was that a part of a job of a manager? In the first place, she was not a manager, yet. She had way too many questions in her head, but she forcefully stopped her train of thoughts. Quietly, she suggested while pointing at the classroom, "Why don't we go in so you can explain a bit more?"

The shorter boy agreed. "All right!"

As they entered following her, Asami heard the shorter guy greeted her female friend. "Yachi-san!"

The guys did not seem to notice, but Asami realized her close friend panicked, probably trying to recognize the two boys and thinking about their names. Her brown-haired friend probably thought about something wild and scary, because Asami saw that Yachi was tearing up for some reasons she could not imagine. Only then she realized that she also did not know the names of the two boys. She had been dubbing them as " _the orange-haired small one_ " and " _the black-haired quieter one_ " in her head.

" _Well, they have not introduced themselves in the first place,_ " she thought.

"Right, we haven't introduced ourselves!"

At the comment from the orange-haired guy, Asami realized that she had once again spoken her mind aloud. She mentally beat herself up; that was one habit she really had to fix. As she went to her seat behind Yachi, the two guys stood there and finally introduced themselves.

"I'm Hinata Shoyo from Class 1," the shorter one said. "This one is Kageyama," he continued as he pointed at his partner, to which the black-haired guy nodded. Asami mentally mapped their faces with their names in her head.

"Do you two like studying?" He asked both Asami and Yachi.

Yachi grinned nervously. "Well, I don't hate it."

Asami opened her can of peach tea while replying, "I'm okay with it, I guess."

He smiled and showed Yachi his notebook, "Could you teach us English? Kageyama, you also ask for help!"

For the first time, Asami heard the other guy's voice. "Please teach us."

As Hinata explained why they had to study and why they asked Yachi and her to teach them, Asami carefully took a small sip of the tea and listened to the story. By the way, the tea tasted surprisingly good; she wouldn't mind buying it again.

* * *

Kageyama watched as Yachi agreed to teach them, and then she turned to her friend. "Fuji-chan, do you want to join us?"

The girl finished sipping her drink before answering. "English is not my forte," she replied calmly.

With a weary smile, the brown-haired girl pointed out to her friend. "Erm, yeah, but you are in the school's top 10. How bad can your English be?"

"YOU ARE IN THE SCHOOL'S TOP 10?" Hinata shouted, quite literally, earning him stares from the people in the class.

He bonked his partner's head. "You're too loud, idiot!"

The middle blocker pouted but kept quiet immediately.

Asami shrugged. "Being a good student doesn't mean I will be a good teacher."

"Well, you won't know until you try," Yachi tried to encourage her friend.

Kageyama saw the black-haired girl slowly began to twirl the braided section of her hair. She closed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows a bit, while the brown-haired girl looked at her friend expectantly. He looked at Hinata, who seemed to be as confused as he was. They had no idea what the two girls were doing.

After a short silence, Asami sighed and spoke again. "I'll give it a try."

His eyes widened a bit in surprise. Even as they shifted the chairs to be able to sit around Yachi's table, he stared at her. He thought Asami would be unwilling to teach them, since she looked listless most of the time. She gave an impression as someone who would be putting minimum effort to meet the minimum required, but he guessed he could have been wrong.

As Yachi showed them her notes, he quietly copied the notes. The brown-eyed girl has neat handwriting, making it easy to read. On top of that, she explained well and both Hinata and he managed to finally understand what was taught in English class.

On the other hand, Asami, despite being willing to help, explained the concept in a way similar to the way Nishinoya taught Hinata how to receive a ball. Learning the English language since she was very young, she picked it up subconsciously. After some time trying and failing, she finally passed the role of teacher to Yachi and just sat there quietly, folding her origami paper.

As Kageyama copied the notes diligently, Hinata was actively talking to Yachi about how nice Yachi's notes were. The two were talking about studying, but they ended up in the topic of Nekoma volleyball teams and the practice matches held in Tokyo. While his hand continued writing, he managed to comment here and there about Nekoma. He heard how Yachi thought Hinata was a manager because of his height, to which Hinata replied that he was a regular.

She suddenly stood up and bowed down, apologizing profusely. He noticed the tired look from the black-haired girl, unamused by her best friend over-reaction. Hinata dismissed the comments and sat back when Kageyama reminded Hinata to copy the notes. Once in a while, he noticed Asami looking at their notes and pointed out when they copied the English words wrongly.

When they finally managed to finish copying the notes, it was almost time for the lunch break to end. Both of them thanked Yachi – and Asami, who sort of helped them in giving some examples and correcting their notes – and walked out of the classroom. The two girls walked with them to the classroom's entrance.

"Will you teach us again?" Hinata asked Yachi.

She nodded. "Sure, teaching you guys helps me to remember the materials better, too."

Yachi looked at Asami and nudged her gently. In response, she shrugged nonchalantly.

As the orange head shook the hand of the brown-haired girl excitedly, he gave a small bow to the other girl and she did the same to him.

"See you later at the club!" Hinata said to them, waving his hands, before they left for the next lesson.

* * *

Her friend was a nervous wreck.

"Hitoka-chan, calm down," Asami said as she put on her school's gym uniform. "Why are you so nervous when we are just visiting the club?"

"I-I know!" Yachi replied, clenching her fists in determination. "Calm down, calm down, calm down…"

The black-haired girl sighed a bit as she heard her friend chanting "calm down" as if it was a magic spell. She patted her friend in the back once in an attempt to make her more relaxed, but instead, Yachi jumped in surprise at the touch with an 'Eek!' escaping her mouth. She looked at her friend, unamused, and headed towards the sports hall. Asami could hear Yachi asking her to wait, so she slowed down her pace but never stopped walking. For some reasons, the brown head was walking slowly while looking around as if there would be someone attacking her.

When they finally reached, Hinata was the first to spot them.

"Yachi-san!" He approached her in a matter of seconds. "This afternoon's English quiz, some parts you taught me were there and I got one third right!"

The two of them were celebrating the tests results while she quietly walked in. When she noticed the other members, she gave them a small bow as a greeting. The grey-haired senpai smiled and waved at her. As she looked around for Shimizu, her eyes met Kageyama. He nodded at her and she gave him a nod in return. They were not on a friendly term, but since they knew each other, greeting was a basic thing to do.

"Yachi-chan, Asami-chan." She heard Shimizu calling the two of them. Asami saw Yachi walking towards the beautiful senior stiffly. The temporary black-haired manager could only shake her head as she also, walked to meet the manager of the club. As they both stood there, waiting for being told what to do, Asami could not help but notice how Yachi's whole body is so stiff, quite literally.

"Hitoka-chan, for the last time, please relax," Asami deadpanned.

The two first years heard their senpai giggled a bit. Shimizu smiled and asked, "Hitoka is a cute name. Can I call you 'Hitoka-chan' too?"

"Y-yes!" Yachi replied almost immediately, slightly blushing.

"For Asami-chan, how do you want me to call you?" The bespectacled senior asked, tucking her hair behind her ear gracefully.

Shrugging, Asami answered, "However you want it, senpai."

With a smile, Shimizu nodded. "Fuji-chan it is then."

She heard the captain gathering the guys to warm up, while the black-haired third year manager briefed them. "So today the two of you will observe. Don't be nervous, okay?"

Asami nodded while Yachi replied with an awkward combination of 'Yes' and 'Right'.

"Oh, but please be careful of stray shots," she warned them as she walked off to do her manager duty.

Yachi answered with a 'yes' before she mumbled, "Stray shots? Could it be…someone trying to kill me?"

Asami chose to ignore her friend's over-reaction. Although Yachi was her best friend, she had no idea how to respond to the current situation and choose to just walk away to find a spot to observe well. The members had finished their warm-ups and were getting ready for their trainings.

She watched as Shimizu helped the coach by passing him the balls, which he threw to the members. Yachi slowly creeped and stood next to her, still very much tense.

"Fuji-chan, what does Shimizu mean by 'stray shots'?" asked her friend.

As if on cue, a spiked ball head its way towards them. Reflexively, Asami raised her arm to block the ball while Yachi closed her eyes. Luckily, Hinata was quick enough to react and block the ball.

Asami sighed in relief and whispered to her stunned friend, "That's what she means."

She saw Shimizu coming towards them with slightly concerned expression. Yachi explained how it was her first time looking at seeing volleyball so close outside PE class. Smiling, her senpai explained how the team offense is one of the best in the prefecture and how these few years, Karasuno was considered " _the flightless bird_." Nonetheless, she was sure that they could finally go to Nationals this year.

"That's amazing! Totally different from me," Yachi said as she trailed off, which earned a look of confusion and surprised from the bespectacled senpai.

* * *

"Fall in!" Coach Ukai called.

As the members gathered, Takeda-sensei explained about the practice match they were going to have the next day. There was an excitement among them as they wondered about their opponent.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Shimizu and the two potential managers quietly packed up their training equipments. While Yachi looked a bit confused, her friend was efficiently tidying things up. She appeared to pick up what to do to help her senior rather fast.

"Shimizu, where do you want to put this?" He heard her asking, as she put the last ball in its container.

The third-year manager pointed to the storage room. "You can put it in the corner of the storage room. Thank you, Fuji-chan."

Nodding, she pushed the container into the storage room. The other two followed suits as they brought the rest of the stuff they need to keep. They all coughed a bit at the dust which danced around as they moved to arrange their equipment. Kageyama also noticed how Shimizu thanked them for helping and told them to change back to their uniform. With a nod, the two girls walked to the female changing room.

As they about to exit, his blue-gray eyes met Asami's navy-blue ones She held her gaze at him for a second and bowed at him. He automatically gave a small bow in response out of surprise and saw her going after her brown-haired friend. He kinda revised his opinion about her.

" _Well, the way she carries herself is similar to Tsukishima, but at least she is not rude like him_ ," he said in his head. " _Maybe she is not that bad._ "


	3. Setting Things Up

* * *

"Ah, Fuji-chan, have you finished changing?"

Asami turned to the direction of the voice to meet the eyes of her senior who just entered the female changing room. The senior came in just as the junior finished zipping up her uniform skirt. The first year nodded as she put her folded gym clothes into her sling bag. She put back her uniform ribbon around her shirt collar and adjusted it carefully, quietly listening to the rustling sound as her senior changed out of her t-shirt and track pants.

"Are you going back with Hitoka-chan?" Shimizu asked, "I saw her waiting outside the gym."

"Yes," Asami replied shortly, mentally scolding herself for her one-word reply. She didn't want to sound rude to Shimizu, but she was terrible at making small talks. Whenever there was a need to make a small talk, it was always the other person who started talking to her first. In contrast, whenever she tried to start a conversation, her brain simply stopped functioning. The weather, it appeared, was not such a great topic to talk about. It didn't help that her curt replies tend to turn people off when they thought that she was simply not interested.

"We should go home together," the gentle voice of her senior broke her chains of thoughts. She was glad that Shimizu didn't sound offended by her earlier brief reply.

As the third year exited the room, she turned to her junior. "On another note, how do you find our volleyball club so far?"

As the topic of her visit to the club was brought up, the blue-eyed girl recalled her experience for the past two days. Watching a volleyball club practice was something new to her. Sure, she knew about volleyball basic rules and moves and had watched some matches on TV. Yet, watching how people play and practice the sports in real life gave her a different feeling. It was more exciting than she expected.

She mentally listed a few things which caught her interests: the loud sounds the players made as they spiked the ball, the crazy jump Hinata did despite being on the shorter side, how Kageyama could set the ball with insane accuracy, stray shots were normal during practice – she had to block several shots coming her way, and some second-year members of the club adored her female senior as if she was a goddess. She expected the club to be serious and intense. Yet, they proved to be chaotically fun.

"It is…" Asami thought hard to find an appropriate, neutral-sounding adjective to describe her experience, "interesting."

There was a small chuckle coming from her senior. "That's not the word people commonly use to describe them."

"What do they usually say?"

The bespectacled beauty grinned as she turned her head to look at the younger girl. "Chaotic?"

Asami blinked in surprise at her senior's bluntness. A small smile made its way to her lips. "Well, that's appropriate too, I suppose."

As they reached the gym to meet Yachi, Asami again was met with an interesting sight, proving that Shimizu's choice of words was indeed accurate. There were three boys standing in a circle and shouting in excitement – one being Hinata while the other two were those she noted as Shimizu Kiyoko's worshippers – while her brown-haired classmate stared in silence. At their excited, loud noise, the coach came up and scolded them for causing disturbance. They quickly murmured an apology. Once the coach disappeared from sight, the trio continued to show their excitement by shouting in silence. Mouth open wide but no sound coming out from their lips. Yachi had moved to stand near her, and they were staring in amusement as Hinata and the two-color-haired senior jumped up in excitement while the bald one punched the air. Next to them, the beautiful manager chuckled good-naturedly.

' _Chaotic,'_ Asami thought before mentally adding her own comment, ' _in a good way_.'

* * *

The members of Karasuno High volleyball club were very clearly excited for their friendly match. It was easy to tell from the tension hanging in the air. Some members were warming up, while others were cleaning and getting the court ready. Of course, Kageyama was included in those eagerly anticipating the game. He practiced his jump serve one last time before deciding to take a short break. Kageyama saw the third-year manager entered as she announced the arrival time of Ouginishi High school. Behind her, he saw Yachi following the senior closely behind. The black-haired setter couldn't help but noticed that the other female first year was missing. He watched as Yachi went towards the chairs' storage, preparing to set up some seats as requested by Shimizu. Hinata was the first to come to greet the temporary manager.

"Do you need some help?" The short middle blocker asked.

Yachi shook her head nervously. "I-It's okay, you can do your own thing!"

As Kageyama walked nearer to them to get his water bottle, Hinata began to look around. "By the way, where is Asami-san?" There was a gasp from the orange head. "C-could it be she quit? Does she stop being our manager?! What happened?!"

The brown-haired girl was quick to dismiss Hinata's claim. "N-no, no! She will be coming a bit later. She told me she had to talk to our homeroom teacher."

As if on cue, they heard the hall's door being opened, revealing the aforementioned raven-haired girl.

"Sorry I'm late," Asami said hurriedly, a little out of breath.

It was obvious that she had rushed from the school main building to the sports hall; her hair slightly messier than usual, beads of perspiration rolling from her forehead. Unlike the previous days where she had worn her nonchalant expression, the black head female first year looked slightly disheveled. She quickly rushed to meet the third-year manager, who smiled and assured her that it was okay that she came a bit late. They talked for a bit before he saw Asami nodded, her braid bounced lightly, and jogged towards them.

"You okay, Fuji-chan?" He heard Yachi asked with slight concern as her friend reached her destination. His steel-blue eyes watched as Asami took a few deep breaths, still trying to recover from her earlier sprint. She wiped her sweats with the back of her hand. It was quite obvious for him that the girl had zero to little stamina. The distance from the school main building to the gymnasium was only few hundred meters. If she was that out of breath from running a short distance, Asami probably was really bad with physical activities.

Taking one last deep breath and exhaling slowly, the blue-eyed girl nodded. "Yes, I'm good."

He noticed that her breathing had somewhat slowed down. She was taking out one folded chair when her eyes finally met his. Kageyama abruptly turned away, suddenly realizing that he had been watching her even since she came. She didn't seem to realize his stare as she started to walk away bringing one chair with her. The setter let out a small relieved sigh.

Opening his water bottle, he took a few gulps of water. He overheard Yachi talking to Hinata about the upcoming friendly match, and her asking him why he wanted to win, was willing to study so hard to play in away games, and was giving his all even in a practice match.

"Hey, Kageyama. Is there a reason why you don't want to lose?" His orange-haired friend asked.

"Huh?" He stopped sipping his water. "How would I know? Is there a reason you want to eat when you are hungry?"

Hinata nodded in agreement, contemplating his reply. "Hmmm that's true…"

In contract, Yachi looked slightly perplexed. She let out a nervous laugh as she rubbed the back of her head with her right hand. "Sorry, that was an inane question."

"Inane question?" The first-year duo tilted their head to the side in confusion.

"Inane means silly, pointless, or meaningless," Asami's calm voice interjected the conversation as she came back to take another chair. She looked at them with a neutral expression. "You can use it to describe a question, or to address oneself after one posed such a question."

Tsukishima, who was not that far away from them and overheard the conversation, added his own thought as well. His voice laced in irritation. "We just went through the vocab the other day! Stop forgetting things you have learnt just because you think it's irrelevant to volleyball!"

Both Kageyama and Hinata cowered a bit at the tone and the scolding from the bespectacled middle blocker. Tsukishima was spot-on on his reasoning; the two of them were quick to forget things they deemed of no great importance.

Their talk was interrupted as Ouginishi High School members arrived in the hall. Their captain called for them to gather around. All the members, including the managers, lined up together and bowed to greet the other team. Kageyama could feel himself getting pumped up for the match. It had been too long since their last game with another school. Earlier conversation forgotten and all that mattered to him was to win the match.

* * *

"Thank you for the game!"

Asami watched as both teams bowed to each other after the game ended. Karasuno had won the friendly match. A small sigh escaped her lips as she stood up. Just a day ago, she thought that watching the team practice was exciting, but watching them play a real match was nerve-wracking. The tension between the two teams, the real speed of ball being passed from one to another player, and the sound of ball hitting the court after being spiked seemed unreal to her.

She glanced at her classmate, who was sitting at the edge of her chair throughout the match. Her close friend was gushing in awe as she talked to Hinata after the opponent team left the hall. The black-haired girl understood what Yachi felt. The match was exciting, but the first-year duo's quick attack was especially impressive. It made her heart pound.

The black-haired girl folded two chairs as she heard Hinata talking to Yachi animatedly. She was planning to carry two at the same time. When setting up the chairs, the black-haired girl could handle carrying one chair quite easily, so she thought maybe she could bring two at a time instead. It was more efficient that way and the chairs didn't look that heavy. She tried to lift them up using two hands.

Boy, she was wrong.

Her thin arms refused to lift the chairs off the ground for more than one second. She struggled for a bit, dragging the chairs slightly. Wincing at the sound the chairs made as they scratched the floor, she stopped moving. Asami frowned as she tried several different positions to lift them but still failed. The girl was about to give up when two arms snatched the chairs from her hands. She looked up to see Kageyama holding onto them, one in each hand, with ease. His steel-blue eyes met her sapphire ones.

"What?" He snapped, adjusting his grip on the chairs.

The shorter of the two blinked several times, staring at him in a slight confusion. She was surprised that the black-haired setter was helping her. Asami had thought that he was the slightly self-absorbed type, not really aware of his surroundings – except when it came to a volleyball match. He was excellent in reading the situation during a match, she noted. Outside volleyball, he just seemed a bit detached. He was the last person she expected to notice her struggle.

"N-nothing. Uh, thank you," she finally said. She wondered why she stuttered the beginning of her sentence.

He grunted in response as he walked away to store the chairs. She quickly took the last chair, folded and carried it, walking behind him. Asami quietly watched Kageyama as he put back the chairs into the storage. Once he was done doing so, he extended one hand to her, sending her glares. The girl stared at him quietly, blinking owlishly. It took her a few seconds to understand his intent. The girl passed the chair to him for the setter to stack the chairs together neatly. What an awkward guy…

"Then, what role did you use to play, Kageyama?" Hinata asked Kageyama out of nowhere, causing the two raven head to turn their heads.

It appeared that Hinata and Yachi's discussion had evolved from match discussion to the kind of role they used to do in a play. She had no idea how the discussion could change so drastically. It probably stemmed from how Yachi thought someone like her, who could only play Townperson B, would not be able to contribute in the club. To that, Hinata countered saying that Townperson B had his own awesomeness. She recalled seeing Kageyama sniggering at the middle blocker's remarks.

There was a smugness in the setter's tone as he replied to his teammate's question. "The Moon."

"Damn, that's cool!" Hinata groaned. He turned to her. "How about you, Asami-san?"

"I didn't act," Asami answered, earning a frown from the brown-eyed boy. "I only helped with writing the script."

There was a chorus of 'ooh' coming from Yachi, Hinata, and Kageyama. The three of them were looking at her with twinkling eyes. The girl cowered slightly at the sudden attention she was receiving. She was never good with attention. That was the main reason why she volunteered to help with the scriptwriting. By doing backstage stuff, she was exempted from performing on stage.

"Mannn, that's even cooler than being the Moon!" Hinata remarked. Suddenly, something seemed to click in his head. "Asami-san! Can you teach us Japanese Language?" he requested. "Since you can write a script, that means you must be good at kanji and grammar and all those, right?"

The girl stared at him, slightly taken aback by the abrupt topic change. "Uh…"

Asami was glad that Yachi decided to jump in at that moment. She was thankful that her friend seemed to understand that she was conflicted about Hinata's request. While yes, Japanese Language was one of her best subjects, she was not a good teacher. "H-Hinata-san, how about a study session together? Both Fuji-chan and I are planning to meet on Saturday to study together for the exams anyway."

"That sounds great!" The tangerine head seemed happy at that prospect. "Kageyama, are you okay with that?"

The setter nodded. "Un."

Hinata grinned. "So, what time? Where?"

"For this week, we are meeting at my house," Yachi explained. "The two of us would be studying since morning. We usually meet around 8 or 9am and study the whole day."

"So early!" Hinata and Kageyama shouted at the same time, looking bewildered.

Yachi laughed nervously while Asami looked at them blankly. She wondered how much the two usually studied before exams. They were probably the type who decided to just wing it during exams. She also pondered whether one month was enough for the two of them to teach the guys just enough to pass their exams.

She wanted to see them play in the away games after all.


	4. Surprisingly Close

It surprised her to see the two guys actually came punctually to Yachi's house for their study group. When Asami opened the door, they were greeted by an energetic Hinata and a half-awake Kageyama. She couldn't help but grinned a little at the sight of the sleepy setter. Eyes barely opened. Hair unkempt. For someone who usually looked stern and focused, he sure was looking defenseless. The black-haired girl had to cough to suppress her laughter when she saw Hinata struggling to push Kageyama to enter the house.

Yachi ushered them to the living room, where they sat around a large coffee table. Since there were four of them, they were conveniently seated on each side of the table. Asami sat across her close friend while the boys faced each other. Once they were seated, Hinata reminded Kageyama about their away games in Tokyo. Their sole motivation for wanting to pass all their exams. That seemed to snap the setter out of his daze. The visitors took out their studying materials while the host poured out some cold tea for them.

Asami had taken the role of the main teacher of the day, being the one with the best grade for the subject. Yachi had gladly offered her help as a support teacher. They went through the list of kanji which they had to memorize. She also taught them about how to read a passage properly and answer exam questions properly. Going through each question in great details. While memorizing came easier for the guys, comprehension was not their forte.

"Hinata-san, you should read this part slowly. No, glancing through the passage's first sentence doesn't count as reading it."

"If you don't understand the question, you cannot answer it properly. So, yes, you need to read the question."

"Reading the passage annoys you. Yes, I understand. Please just try reading it _once_."

"No, Kageyama-san, you cannot just claim it's irrelevant to your life therefore you don't want to answer the question."

"That's not how Japanese exam works. You cannot just guess it. There is no multiple-choice question."

" _No_ , there isn't any special trick to answer the questions."

When they finally completed their practice papers, one could almost see steams coming out from Asami's head. Patience, she had it. Endurance, not so much. She was glad that their study session was ending. Now all the guys just had to copy Yachi's notes. While the other three were going through the notes, she went to the kitchen and helped herself to a glass of water and downed it in seconds.

Although tired, she still managed to complete her study goal for the day. The good thing about teaching the two guys was that it really forced her to explain even the most basic things. She had to review her basic foundation and understanding of the subject. In a way, it did help her with her own exam preparation.

"Done!" Hinata exclaimed, raising his notebook in triumph, as the black-haired girl walked back to the living room. "Thank you for the notes, Yachi-san! Thank you for teaching us today, Asami-san!" Kageyama nodded in agreement.

Yachi waved it off shyly while Asami simply hummed in response. Both guys started to pack their belongings since they had finished their study session. While the setter was quiet, the middle blocker was still excitedly talking to Yachi. The brown-haired girl was smiling and replying to his questions and comments. Asami couldn't help but be amused at their interactions. Those two got along well for someone who just knew each other for a short time. Then again, Hinata's lively personality seemed to have that effect on people. In contrast, Kageyama was quieter, less expressive.

Even while studying, it was clear that Hinata readily asked questions. Not at all embarrassed to appear stupid. Kageyama took his time to think slowly, trying to solve things all by himself. She noticed he found it harder to ask questions, especially to her. He would glance at her multiple times before finally asked his questions. Maybe it was her toneless voice she used when she replied which made him hesitated so much. She really had to work on her curt tone.

* * *

Kageyama yawned as he walked home. He didn't know using his brain for studying could be so tiring. It was a wonder that he didn't feel tired when he used his brain for volleyball. Well, he liked volleyball but not studying. Maybe that's the difference. The drive behind it.

He was in the company of Hinata and Asami, walking together towards the train station, when the orange head realized that he had left his textbook at Yachi's place. As Hinata rushed back to get his book, he had told them to go ahead of him. He took the offer and continued his journey home. Trailing slightly behind him was the aforementioned black-haired girl. The girl didn't say a word as she was focused on completing her origami.

Unlike most girls he knew, Asami didn't seem to be the type who liked to chit-chat on their way home. She looked content just walking silently while doing her own things. He appreciated her silence. He wasn't good at making small talks with people.

Both of them entered the station without a word. As he walked down the staircase to the train platform, he heard her huff of satisfaction. He glanced back at her and the completed lotus-flower origami held by her thin fingers. She put it into her bag and put on her earphones instead.

There was silence between them as they stood side by side on the same platform.

They boarded the same train…

Alighted on the same station

Went towards the same exit

Walked towards the same direction

…

"You live **here**?!"

Asami winced a bit at his sudden exclamation. Surprisingly, his voice was loud enough for her to hear him even though she had her earphones on. "Uh, yeah," she said, taking off the listening device from both ears and turning to face him. "Why does that surprise you?"

He gawked at her. She just stopped and was about to enter a typical detached house with a small garden. There was nothing outstanding about the house. Normal layout. Normal size. Perfectly normal-looking house. What shocked him was the location: her home being three houses away from his. They practically lived in the same neighborhood! Kageyama pointed at the direction of his house, slightly weirded out that they lived surprisingly close to each other, yet they never noticed it. "I am- my living- I mean- my house is…just there."

She blinked at him, looking at the direction he pointed. He watched as her forefinger started to curl around her braided hair. Her eyes staring into the empty road. Kageyama had noticed that particular habit of hers which she did while thinking. She did it all the time even while they were studying. After a minute of awkward silence – her being in deep thought, him waiting for her to say something – she finally mumbled, "…now I know why Kageyama looks familiar."

" _I_ look familiar to _you_?" He asked, yet again taken by surprise.

Asami shifted her gaze and looked up to face him, slightly stunned. He frowned as she blinked at him owlishly. The black-haired girl stopped her hair-twirling and pointed to herself as she asked, "I said that aloud, did I?"

The boy nodded.

A small sigh left her lips. She rubbed the back of her neck as she explained. "Well, when I first saw you, I felt you looked familiar. I have a pretty good memory, so I'm certain I have seen you somewhere. Now I finally remember."

Kageyama stared at the girl as he slowly digested her words.

"I'm not surprised if you don't remember. We only met a few times and we were quite young. It was Kaya-nee who invited you to play together since you were alone. She thought you were lost," Asami continued. "Kaya-nee is my neighbor – and yours as well technically, since we live in the same neighborhood. She usually played with me when my mother came home late."

The setter thought long and hard about the girl's explanation, searching through his memories.

One particular memory finally came to mind.

* * *

_He was playing alone. His sister and grandfather had gone to the gym. If it was any other normal day, he would have joined them, but he just had a big fight with his sister. His grandfather tried to appease them but to no success. His sister told him to not follow them to the gym and small Kageyama didn't want to be in the same place with his sister either. So, he went to a riverbank near his house, playing with a ball by himself. He threw it against a tree and caught it._

_Throw_

_Catch_

_Throw_

_Catch_

_Tears started to pool in his eyes. He was sad and annoyed. Why did his sister have to be so mean? Why did she tell him to stay away? It was her fault to leave her diary in the open. He was just curious about the book since the cover had a volleyball on it. An honest mistake. There was no need for her to shout at him._

_His thought was interrupted when he felt someone tapped his shoulder. The boy flinched and spun around, slightly alerted at the presence of another person. The stranger turned out to be a teenage girl with dark brown hair pulled in a ponytail. She was wearing the same school uniform as his sister's one. Her hands were raised in the air, showing that she meant no harm. There was a soft smile on her lips. He eyed her carefully._

" _Hello there, are you okay?" She asked gently, kneeling down so they were on the same eye level. Her big brown eyes showed concern. "I saw you crying. Are you lost, boy? Do you need help?"_

_Realizing that there were tears leaking from the corner of his eyes, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Kageyama harshly wiped his tears away using his arm. "I-I'm okay! I don't need help! I'm not lost! My house is just there!" He pointed at his house with his little finger._

_The teenage girl stared at him and smiled gently. "I lived nearby too! That's my house over there." She paused as the little boy followed her finger and stared at the house she pointed. "Since we are neighbors, do you want to play with us? It's more fun if we play together."_

_His eyes twinkled a bit at the invitation. His friends at school thought playing volleyball was boring. Games were more fun, they said. He was excited at the prospect of playing with new people. His grandfather told her to be wary of strangers, but the older girl didn't seem like a bad person. And she was his neighbor too._

" _Us?" He mumbled, hands gripping his ball._

_She nodded. "Yes, us. Fuji-chan, come here," she said, gesturing to someone who was standing few steps away from them._

_A boy about his age took a step forward, keeping his distance still. Wary written all over his face. Mushroom-shaped black hair. Pale skin. Deep blue eyes. Baggy dark-colored shorts and t-shirt. "I'm Kaya, and that is Fuji," the teenage girl introduced herself before pointing at the deadpanned boy. "We can play together right, Fuji-chan?"_

_The boy called Fuji glanced at Kaya for a second before shifting it to Kageyama. His gaze was unnerving. Almost as if, he was assessing him with those dark blue, emotionless eyes. Kageyama fidgeted a bit at the scrutiny. Finally, the pale-skinned boy nodded. Only then, he realized that Fuji was fiddling with a piece of paper, folding it carefully._

* * *

Something clicked. "You're that creepy boy at the riverbank!"

Asami gave him an unamused look. "I am neither creepy nor a boy. I believe it is normal for someone to be wary of strangers."

Well, she got a point.

The setter shut his mouth shut, deep in thought. Who would have thought that they met as children? She said that they met several times, but that one memory was all he could recall about her. He didn't have many childhood memories about his friends. Most of his memories were about volleyball and how he trained to be better at it. He didn't really have time to interact with other kids who lived in the neighborhood.

Still, it was a good discovery, he supposed. Since they lived nearby each other, Asami maybe could help give him an extra help with his study. To be honest, he found it hard to study by himself. Without watching eyes, he would either fall asleep or get distracted. A study group and face-to-face explanation worked better for him than a self-study or a phone conversation or an email.

"Since we live nearby, could you-"

Before he could finish asking, he cut himself off. Mentally scolding himself for not considering the other person. Studying together worked for him, but what if she thought that he was being a bother? What if her grades dropped because of him? The arrangement seemed to benefit him but not her. She probably would be annoyed at him when he started asking questions. Worries assaulted his mind as he considered his earlier idea, unaware of the girl's confusion at his abrupt silence.

* * *

Asami frowned as Kageyama abruptly cut off his own sentence, eyes casted to the ground. He looked troubled for some reasons. The girl observed how his emotions changed so swiftly. At one moment he was surprised at the revelation that they were practically neighbor. The surprise slowly faded, and he suddenly turned thoughtful, then sullen. For someone who didn't speak much, his expressions sure spoke for themselves.

"You were saying?" She asked, urging him to complete his sentence, making her tone lighter and softer than usual.

He kept his eyes trained on the ground and grumbled a low "Nothing."

The black-haired girl noticed his discomfort and decided not to push him further. No point forcing him to talk when he didn't want to. "Okay, if you said so. Just to let you know, anytime you feel like continuing what you want to say, I will listen."

At her words, he opened his mouth, but no word came out. He looked a bit flustered, probably having an internal dialogue with himself. Instead of forcing him to continue, she wrote down her phone number on a piece of paper and passed it to him, telling him to call her phone number if he wanted to continue whatever he was about to say. She further assured him that it's okay to take his time. He stared at the paper and then her, before he finally nodded. With that, they went to their own house.

Nearing midnight, she received a call from an unknown number. Just right after she completed her Science homework. "Hello, Asami speaking,"

"…"

"Hello?"

"… _ **Kageyama here.**_ "

Ah, finally. "Hello, Kageyama-san. How can I help you?"

She tried her very best to keep things casual and light. She so wanted to ask him, what was he going to say in the afternoon, but she held her tongue. If she was too forward in her approach, the boy might retreat back into his shell. Since he has taken the effort to speak, she would make the effort to listen. To listen to what he was thinking. So, she waited.

" _ **Asami-san."**_ She heard his nervous gulp from the other side of the phone. " _ **Can you…help me…with my study…a bit more?**_ "

Asami couldn't help the small smile on her lips. Such a simple request yet he had to think so much just for that. "Of course, Kageyama-san." She heard a sigh, probably from relief. Really, was this such a difficult question to ask?

"Oh, please be warned." She paused, hearing a sharp intake of breath from the other line of the phone, causing her smile to grow slightly wider. "Asking for my help means you will study more than _just a bit_.'"


	5. Night Rendezvous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: 😊 I will be skipping some parts in the anime which more or less remain the same and do not really have an impact of the growing relationship between the two. Their relationship will be slow, but not that slow.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

"Oi, where's the chibi?"

Kageyama heard Nekoma's captain asking their captain. Karasuno volleyball team members had just reached Nekoma High in Tokyo. Some members of Nekoma team decided to greet them, and almost immediately noticed the missing orange head. Sawamura gave a wry smile before explaining that Hinata had failed his English exam because he wrote his answers off by one column. Kuroo laughed boisterously at that.

He couldn't help the small surge of pride inside his chest. Unlike Hinata, he passed all his exams. Well, barely. For Japanese Modern Literature, his score was exactly the minimum passing grade. Still, a pass was a pass. He was grateful for the help he had gotten from his teammates, and Yachi, and Asami – especially Asami. He recalled the time when he asked for her to help him with his study few weeks back, and she had warned him that she would make him do more than just a bit.

She wasn't kidding.

During school days, she would make him study for a short while before their club activities started. Oh, talking about that. Asami and Yachi had finally joined the club officially as their manager. He was thankful for that. It was easier to arrange their meet-up when they met face-to-face. They had their group study session with Hinata and Yachi on weekends, which was often followed by additional tutoring session for him at Asami's house. The proximity of their houses made it convenient for him to study till late since he could just walk back to his house.

The girl also gave him extra practice questions for _all_ subjects. At first, he grumbled about it, but he learnt quickly not to annoy the girl. His worksheets doubled whenever he complained. While he did his practice papers, Asami would do her own share of studying. When he asked her questions, she addressed each of them patiently. As he quietly corrected his mistakes, the girl would wait until he finished. She would check his answers and give prompt feedback. Praised and affirmed him for what he did correctly. Corrected and guided him through his mistakes.

And turned out, his worry whether her grades will drop because she spent her time teaching him was proven wrong. Asami's rank had gone up from 10th to 8th. When he saw the posting of the ranking, he mentioned to her that her rank had gone up and the girl simply shru

gged. She said that her overall grades actually didn't change much, so it was probably just because others were not performing as well. Regardless, the setter was glad to know that she somehow maintained her grades.

He didn't want to bring his friend down.

"Kageyama, let's go!"

The setter blinked, realizing he had zoned out and stopped walking with the others. Sawamura called him over and the black-haired boy rushed over to approach the rest of the team. Well, _most_ of the team would be more accurate, since they had some missing members.

Hinata had to finish his supplementary exam before Tanaka's sister could drive him to Tokyo. Coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei were slightly concerned about Hinata being the only one left behind. The bright-haired boy could be a bit distracted sometimes. They were pleasantly surprised when one of their new managers offered to stay behind and go to Tokyo on a later timing with him. Asami explained that her homeroom teacher had requested to see her on that day.

He wondered what the meeting was about.

* * *

"So, what do you think, Asami? I personally think it's a good opportunity."

Asami stared at the piece of paper from her homeroom teacher, Yamamoto-sensei. It was a notice for a call for submission for a short story contest for high-school students. The prompt was simple: Night Rendezvous. The theme allowed ample space of exploration and imagination. She could even try writing something she never wrote before. Her teacher seemed to like her composition which she submitted as her free writing assignments. Perhaps that was the reason the chestnut-haired lady wanted Asami to try joining the competition. The older lady was smiling at her hopefully.

"I'll give it a try," the girl finally replied.

"Great! Can you give me your story outline next week?" Yamamoto-sensei asked.

Her blue eyes scanned the paper. The deadline of the final submission was on the last day of summer holidays, which gave here enough time to think, plan, and write. She nodded. "Sure."

The black-haired girl excused herself and exited the staff room, folding and putting the paper inside her sling bag. She glanced at the wall clock, eyes widening slightly when she realized that her teacher had rambled longer than she thought. Hinata's supplementary exam should be over soon. Not wanting to be late, she walked in a faster pace than usual. Knowing the energetic boy, he probably rushed over once the session was over.

Her prediction was proven correct when she saw the boy running down the stairs.

"Woah!" He shouted, coming to a sudden stop right before crashing into her. His brown eyes lit up upon seeing her. "Hi, Asami-san! Ready to go to Tokyo?"

She simply nodded in response. He was about to rush off when he realized she was walking. With a small frown, he grabbed her wrist. "Why are you walking so slowly? Let's go!"

Asami let out a small gasp as Hinata dragged her, breaking into a jog. As they both reached the entrance gate, she saw a lady with short, blonde hair standing near a car. She was pretty with facial features which resembled their bald second-year senior. She had to be Tanaka's older sister who would drive them to Tokyo. Asami pondered whether Tanaka would look like his older sister if he chose to cross-dress.

"Hey, failure kids!" She greeted enthusiastically, "Get in." She jabbed her thumb towards the white car. The young girl blinked while Hinata gulped. The older lady might have wrong information from her brother. Asami didn't fail any subject, but it was a bother correct her statement. It wasn't a big deal for her.

The excited orange head asked nervously. "A-are you Tanaka-san's older sister?"

"You can call me Saeko-nee-san," she said as she turned, giving them a wink. "I will get you to Tokyo in no time."

"SAEKO-NEE-SAN!" Hinata exclaimed, blushing. Asami wondered why he blushed. Was it the wink? Or was it the charming way the lady spoke? Maybe it was both.

In contrast to him, Asami bowed and said a simple 'thank you, Saeko-san.' She chose to address as Saeko-san instead of Saeko-nee-san. It was weird to her to call someone 'nee-san' when she barely knew the lady. The older lady didn't seem to mind, as she simply grinned and went to sit on the driver seat. Hinata was quick to get into the passenger seat, eyes shining with excitement. The black-haired girl sat on the back seat, putting on the seatbelt and placing her bag next to her. Saeko announced excitedly that they were going,

What happened next was beyond her expectation.

Asami considered herself a calm person, thinking through things logically. She kept her emotions in check. Getting flustered was not something that happened to her on a regular basis. Most things people did and said didn't affect her – well, maybe Kageyama fazed her once in a while. The awkward boy's actions and words confused her at times. He had been added to her mental checklist on things which flustered her.

Now Saeko's driving had been added to that list as well.

As the car skidded and curved wildly – at a _ridiculously_ high speed, mind you – she couldn't help but gasped as her body jerked around violently. She had never been in a car ride where her body almost literally flew from one to another side. The seat belt did little to stop the motion. She didn't even notice that she was holding her breath. Hinata's terrified scream and Saeko's excited shout mingled with the loud sound of car engine. The black head inhaled sharply as the car swerved and almost hit another car.

"Don't worry, don't worry. We will reach Tokyo in no time!" The blonde lady looked back to speak to Asami, giving her a wink and a big grin.

Her dark blue eyes widened as Saeko kept her gaze off the road. "SAEKO-SAN, LOOK TO THE FRONT!" Asami shouted in panic.

The older lady grinned and looked back at the road, turning the wheel with one hand easily, almost hitting a motorcycle "Whoops, almost hit that."

Asami was seriously worried about their lives. She wanted to close her eyes out of fear, but she also felt the need to keep the older lady in check. Just in case Saeko decided to take her eyes off the road again. So, she kept them open wide, trained to the front. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. There was cold sweat at the back of her neck. Her head was pounding slightly. Honestly, she couldn't tell whether the ill feeling was fear-induced, or it was her motion sickness kicking in.

…

Oh crap, she forgot about her motion sickness.

* * *

She didn't know there would be a day where she rejoiced seeing solid ground.

They had arrived earlier than planned, although the trip gave her a major headache. Even as she stepped out of the car, she could feel her sense of balance was still off. She walked slowly, behind the excited blonde lady and orange-haired boy. Saeko opened the doors to the indoor gym entrance, glad to see that the practice was still on-going. Hinata gave a quick greeting and quickly strode towards where Karasuno team was.

Asami took her time to approach the team, who was gathering around their coach. Behind them was their teacher and the other two managers. Wordlessly, she sat on an empty chair next to her classmate, massaging her forehead with one hand while closing her eyes. Her body felt cold and clammy. She didn't even notice that her body is shaking slightly, too focused on taking deep breaths to get rid of the nausea.

Yachi's worried voice was the next thing she heard. "Fuji-chan, are you okay? You look pale."

"Motion sickness," she mumbled an explanation without looking at her friend, "'s fine. It will pass with time."

There was a rustling sound, and then a touch of something cold on her free hand. The black-haired girl opened her eyes slowly. Yachi had kindly passed her a chilled water bottle. She took it gratefully, murmuring a quick thank you. The brown-haired girl smiled back. Asami sipped it slowly, glad that the water made her feel better. As she put down the bottle, she heard the coach dismissed them from the strategy meeting just in time to see the regulars on the court going to play against a team from another school.

* * *

Later that night, she was informed that all the managers shared the same classroom as their makeshift sleeping place. She was glad that the managers from other schools were all very nice and welcoming. Before their sleeping time, one of Fukurodani managers proposed having a girls' talk while sitting on their splayed _futon._ The manager from Ubugawa took out a big bag of snack, but they realized that they didn't have any offered to help them to buy drinks. The ladies told her their preferred drinks to buy from the vending machines.

When she walked out of the classroom, she noticed that the corridor was quite dark at night. Fortunately, it was lit up by the bright lights coming from the used classrooms and the vending machine was just right in the corner. She was looking at the drink options on the machine when she sensed someone approaching. Her eyes met Kageyama's. There was a small towel hung around his shoulders. He probably just finished his shower.

He nodded to greet her.

She nodded back.

Asami thought he would leave after he greeted her. Instead, he shifted to stand next to her, looking at the vending machine blankly. There was quietness among them. The only sound being the clanking of the canned drinks she bought. She bent down and pick the cans, putting them on one of her arms and keeping silent, waiting for him to speak.

"Are you feeling okay?" He muttered quietly. "You weren't looking good this afternoon."

She looked up, blinking. His eyes still fixed on the machine. He probably had been looking for a time to ask her that since that afternoon, but couldn't find the right timing. They hadn't said a word to each other the whole day. He was busy with his practice and she was helping the other managers. It was surprising that he noticed that she was unwell. Then again, Kageyama could be perceptive from time to time.

Asami stood up and shifted the cans on her arms. "I'm okay. I'm just not so good riding on things which move chaotically in general."

"What?"

She noticed he had shifted to face her directly. His brows furrowed in confusion. She explained further, "I tend to have motion sickness when riding a car."

Kageyama frowned deepened at her reply. "We'll be going back to Sendai on a bus."

The girl looked at him in confusion, trying to understand what he was implying. It's a given that all of them would be going back together to Sendai riding the rented bus. Their teacher had clearly mentioned that during the briefing. Why was he mentioning it? Maybe he thought she didn't remember about it. "Yes, I remember Takeda-sensei mentioned it," she replied.

Her blue eyes watched as he glared at her. She wondered why he looked so pissed. "What I'm asking is, will you be okay going back on a bus?"

Ah, so that's what he was trying to say.

"I'll be fine. I just need remember to sit on the front seats of the bus so there is less swaying and the likes," she replied, shrugging. "And I doubt the ride will be as interesting as Saeko-san's ride."

He stared at her questioningly. Asami waited for him to say anything, but he simply rose his eyebrows, as if asking her to elaborate further. She let out a long sigh before recounting her experience to the setter as they naturally walked side by side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Do you get why the chapter is named night rendezvous? *wink* *wink*


	6. Controlled

* * *

She didn't know which was more surprising…

The fact that Kageyama and Hinata fought

Or that Kageyama came to find her after the fight

Asami left without changing her clothes once they arrived back in their school compound. The bus ride was pretty peaceful and thanks to the medicine she drank, she didn't have to suffer through her motion sickness. She excused herself since she wanted to outline the sudden inspiration which she got for the short story contest. The longer she lingered, the more she would forget the idea. With a quick farewell, she rushed off. Once she reached home, she was quick to go to her room to write things down. She didn't even change her clothes, too engrossed in what she was doing.

It was late at night when she finally put down her pencil, satisfied with the outline she had prepared. She just had to show it to her homeroom teacher. Next thing she knew, her phone was ringing. She picked up the call and heard Yachi's worried voice as she told her about what just happened in school. How she was helping the first-year duo with extra practice. How Hinata tried to hit Kageyama's toss without closing his eyes. How the orange head failed to hit any toss. How the setter lost his temper. And how both got into a fist fight until they were stopped forcefully by Tanaka.

The first thing that came to Asami's mind was about how foolish the two boys were. She sighed. She had noticed the tension between the two ever since Hinata tried to change their dynamic. To try something new. On the other hand, Kageyama thought Hinata's idea was terrible. He preferred things to stay as it was, probably thinking that the way they did things currently was good enough. Hinata simply didn't settle for good enough – he wanted better. But instead of talking things out, they lost themselves to their frustration.

The second thing was that her friend probably had cried, judging from the way her voice shook slightly. She listened to Yachi's rambling about how she thought that what if the friendship between the two guys were irreparable and she felt bad about it. She wished she could have done something to stop the fight. Asami assured her that it would be fine. The bond between the two guys was not so weak to be ruined by a single fight. Even if Yachi had jumped to personally try to stop the fight between the two, she could have been injured. She told her she did the right thing by getting help from the senior.

As Asami finished, she could hear a small sniff from the other side of the phone. With a small 'you're right' and 'thank you', Yachi bid her a good night. Asami said the same and hung up. That was when she heard her doorbell rang, causing her to frown. She was not used to have such a happening night. Regardless, she went down and checked who it was by peeking through the door hole. Her eyes widened a bit on the sight.

Kageyama was in front of her house.

That was how they ended up sitting in the couch on her living room. She couldn't just wave him off when she saw him standing there broodingly. He had a scratch on his left cheek, near his jawline, so she took out a first aid kit. She sat on his left, so she had easier access to his cut. He was quiet even as she rummaged through the box. Eyebrows furrowed. Eyes casted down to the floor. Body tensed. The only reaction she got out of him was when he winced a bit as she used an alcohol swab to clean the cut. She also placed a band-aid over it. Other than the scratch, he didn't look injured anywhere else. From Yachi's story about the fight, Asami had expected him to be in a worse condition.

The girl closed the lid of the box, watching the boy as he pursed his lips, fists clenching.

"I can listen if you want to talk," she started to break the silence, "although I cannot solve your issue. This is yours and Hinata problem after all."

Kageyama didn't move an inch.

She sighed, standing up to put away the first aid box.

Before she could walk away, the sound of Kageyama's voice made her halt. "Do you…"

He trailed off, unable to continue. Eyes still trained to the floor.

The girl decided to sit back down to let him know that she was going to listen, if he was going to talk. She waited for few minutes in silence, twirling her braided hair. Asami was feeling slightly impatient. It had been a long day and all she wanted to do was to change out of her dirty clothes, take a shower, and sleep. But she knew she couldn't push him too hard. If she pestered him, he would retreat even further into his shell.

What could she do to get him to finally share what was bothering him? At the moment, he was just to engrossed in his own thoughts. She was reminded of her dad's favorite way to snap her out of her daydreaming. The method had a very high rate of success. Although she wasn't sure Kageyama would be reacting the way she did, but she figured that there was no harm trying. Mentally shrugging, she scooted closer to him…

And flicked him in the forehead.

That earned her quite a reaction. With a yelp, he jumped up and turned to face her, yelling "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR, YOU IDIOT?"

When his steel-blue eyes finally met hers, he paused. Kageyama turned slightly pink before quickly averted his eyes, sitting down again. He rubbed his forehead, grumbling at the pain. Asami could tell from his posture, that he had somehow relaxed. His tensed shoulders loosened up a bit.

"Well, that takes some tension out of you," She stated, shifting her position so she faced him fully. Lifting up and crossing both legs on the couch, the black-haired girl grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest. The girl stared at him, waiting. The setter let out a long sigh, finally willing to talk although he was yet to look at her. "Do you think I- what about- _I mean_ , I just- What do you think is a good setter?"

When he finally asked, he was looking at her with a somewhat worried and confused expression. Even though Asami was slightly taken aback, she didn't let it show on her face. The girl answered while maintaining eye contact. "Hard for me to say. I'm no volleyball player, but if you want my inputs, I guess, a good setter is…someone who can bring the best out of the spikers in the team."

He took her words in and seemed to be deep in thought. "…the best of the spikers…"

"You should talk to others who play as a setter," Asami suggested, "They will give clearer opinions than me."

Kageyama muttered slowly, repeating her words. "…another setter…"

He stood up suddenly, causing Asami to jerk a bit, blinking in surprise. There was a new fire of determination inside his grey-blue eyes. What he was thinking, she had no idea. Whatever it was, he seemed to be in a better mood. The girl quietly stood and followed him as he put on his shoes, getting ready to leave. It seemed that he just visited looking for listening ears. She didn't mind. In fact, she was pleasantly surprised that out of people, he chose to find her.

Well, to be fair, he probably visited her house because she lived nearby.

He just opened the door when he paused and turned to her. "Uh," he said lowly, touching the band-aid, "Thanks for…this."

She shrugged as he watched him leaving the house. "No big deal. That's what friends are for. Night, Kageyama-san."

"…Night."

* * *

The following day went by quickly. There was no club activity, much to his chagrin, since there was an inspection at the gym. Once class was over, Kageyama went to visit the gym which he used to visit as a kid. He was reminded of the place when he saw the promotional poster, although he wasn't entirely sure why he was there. Not as if he could find someone who could help him there. He was there…well, just because. He didn't realize that he had a scowl on his face as he was deep in thought. The annoyed expression caused a kid who accidentally bumped into him to cry.

With a murmur of apology, he was about to turn on his heels to go home when he heard a familiar voice…and saw a familiar face.

"O-Oikawa-san," he exclaimed in surprise. Face contorted weirdly at the unexpected encounter.

The third-year setter from Aoba Jousai pouted and scoffed when their eyes met. Oikawa was taking care of his nephew, it seemed, since they had a day off on Mondays. His middle-school senior didn't seem interested to talk to him as he walked away quickly, bidding him a good-bye.

Kageyama was reminded of Asami's words the previous night.

" _You should talk to others who play as a setter. They will give clearer opinions than me."_

"O-Oikawa-san, um…" He called.

Oikawa turned to him and stuck his tongue at him, pulling down his lower eyelid. "Nope, stupid~ Stupid~ Stupid face~"

"I haven't even said anything yet…" Kageyama drawled tiredly.

Despite the taunt from the third year, he swallowed his pride and bowed down deeply. He knew that Oikawa was an excellent setter. Their encounter was by chance, but Kageyama wasn't going to let such chance passed by. Thanks to his persistence, Oikawa finally agreed to listen to his story. Although the older guy decided to first take a photo of him bowing, for whatever reason. With that, Kageyama shared his struggle. Oikawa frowned at the way the black head described his recent strife with Hinata. He reminded the younger boy coldly, that in any attack, it was the spiker who held the leadership. The senior scoffed at his story, telling him that he was basically being a tyrant king, again.

Of course, his words had cut him inside, reopening old wound, but he ignored the pain, choosing to focus on thinking about what he could and should do. When he was about to return to school to check on the gym, Coach Ukai abruptly stopped him for a talk. Kageyama willingly changed his plan. He followed the blonde coach into his store, where they sat facing each other. His coach explained about tempo and had given him an idea: to toss the ball to the spiker highest point of impact and stopped it there. It was difficult to execute, but he was reminded of Oikawa's words.

" _Are you giving the shrimp the exact tosses he wants? Have you even tried to?"_

And Asami's words

" _A good setter is…someone who can bring the best out of the spikers in the team."_

He wanted – no, needed – to be able to do such tosses.

"I'll give it a try," he informed the coach, standing up.

When he exited the mini mart, it was getting late and the coach had informed him that the gym would be locked after the inspection. He figured he would think of a plan to practice the toss and tried it out the following day. On his journey home, he was thinking about how to control his tosses' spin and power. When he was passing through a mini mart near his house, he saw Asami who just exited the shop holding a small grocery bag, still in her school uniform. They paused when their eyes met.

"Hello, Kageyama-san," she started.

"H-hey," he replied, slightly startled to meet her.

On her other hand, she had few sheets of papers with scribbles in black and red pen all over them. He peeked curiously and couldn't help but ask, "What's that?"

"Oh, this was the outline I wrote last night and some other ideas I wrote in school today, for the short story contest I told you about," she replied. He vaguely remembered about it, recalling her telling him. Something about her homeroom teacher encouraging her to join a writing contest. Looking at the number of things written on the papers, she probably had invested good amount of efforts and time on them. The sentences and markings written in red didn't seem to be a good sign though.

Out of nowhere, she tore the papers and dumped them quickly into the recycle bin. Without a word, she walked away. He gaped at her action and jogged to catch up with her. "W-why did you throw them away? Aren't you working on those?"

Asami shrugged indifferently. "Yamamoto-sensei think the ideas are not good enough. I need to throw those papers away, so I can move on to find new inspiration."

He flinched. As they parted ways, he was reminded why sometimes Asami scared yet impressed him. It was the way she could so calmly handle this kind of issue. Wasn't it normal to feel sad or frustrated when things didn't work out as per your plan? Wouldn't you get annoyed when people just shot down your ideas and hard work? Many felt that way, but Asami was not part of the many. It was like she was ruled solely by her logic. As if she buried her emotions deep inside her. Not that she was cold-hearted. She could be caring when she chose to. She just looked so…detached from her emotions.

So controlled.

* * *

He would find out that Asami also had her moments where her emotions overruled her actions. For once, he had to be the one who with the composure. For once, she let her emotions come to the surface.

She was just a normal human being like him after all.

* * *

 _**Omake –** _ _When Taketora found out that Karasuno has THREE managers (it happened not so long after she arrived in Tokyo)_

Asami came to an abrupt stop when she heard a loud scream of anguish coming from behind her. Slowly turning, she naturally took a step back upon seeing a guy with a mohawk kneeling on all fours on the floor. He looked like he was in a deep pain. She had just finished talking to Shimizu and Yachi and was about to help the managers from other schools with dinner preparation when she was stopped by…whatever it was.

"Damn it, Karasuno…" He muttered under his breath. Why he was cursing her school, Asami had no clue. "I thought they have two managers, but they actually have three! A beautiful one, a cute one, and a pure one!"

She blinked. His remarks confused her.

Beaufiful. That should be Shimizu. No argument there. No one would dare to argue about how beautiful and elegant Shimizu was.

Cute. She wouldn't call herself cute. Objectively speaking, she was too quiet and reserved to be called cute, so cute should be the adjective he chose to describe Yachi. It made sense. Yachi had a sweet smile and definitely adorable reactions and gestures.

Now, pure. The only adjective left, yet it was anything but her. Asami never considered her as someone pure. Pure was an adjective she would use to describe a child, or a puppy. She was neither. If she could choose a word to describe herself, she would choose 'average.'

"I disagree! You are definitely the pure type!" The mohawk guy stood up, pointing at her. Asami bit her lower lip. It was awkward when she accidentally spoke up her thought to someone from another school. And he was calling her 'pure,' which made things even worse for her. She had never been good with compliment. Unknowingly, her finger went up and started twirling her braided hair. She avoided his intense gaze by looking away.

For some weird reasons, his wail got louder which caused her to get even more confused. He started rambling about how jealous he was and how unfair it was that Nekoma didn't have any female manager. She didn't know what the mohawk man was thinking and she disliked being in a situation where things didn't make sense to her.

"Asami-san," a bored voice called, "One of the managers from Fukurodani is looking for you."

She was glad for the interruption. Her deep blue eyes met Tsukishima's golden-brown ones for a second. With a quick nod at the bespectacled boy, she quickly left the scene, unaware of how the mohawk guy was approached by a certain bald head senior, who boasted about having female managers. Nor was she aware of Kageyama staring at her, frowning a bit when he realized he missed his chance to talk to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hope you enjoy the short omake. Yeap, so I was seriously stuck in finding a word to describe Asami. Eventually I go with pure because she has these habits which make her appear pure (head tilting, blinking, or her hair twirling) It makes her look sort of innocent.
> 
> And if you are confused at Tsukishima suddenly jumping into the picture, yes, you are right! Get ready for upcoming chapters for Tsuki-Asami interactions (well, not next chapter, but in a near future) As Kageyama mentioned in earlier chapter, Asami reminded him of Tsukishima and people of similar personalities had the tendency to get along. So yeah :)


	7. Distance

* * *

It had been a week since Kageyama and Hinata fought. The orange head was quick to disappear somewhere after official club activity was over, while the black-haired setter had been practicing the new 'stopping set', using plastic bottles as his targets. His success rate had been frustratingly low. He gritted his teeth as he saw another of his toss missed the intended destination. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he told himself to be patient, that he could only get better with practice.

The duo was not alone in their endeavor to change. Most of the other players in the club were busy practicing on their own as well. Everyone seemed to agree that unless they learnt new skills, they weren't going to pass the preliminary. Their managers and teacher-in-charge were also doing their part to support the team. On top of helping with the extra practice, they also prepared some simple food and tea occasionally for extra energy boost.

"Have some _onigiri_ , Kageyama-kun," Yachi offered him a plate filled with rice balls.

He took one in each hand. "Thanks."

The brown head smiled and moved on, offering the food to other members as well. The girl and Shimizu were going around with a tray of food, while Asami was helping Takeda-sensei to pour out the drinks into paper cups and distribute them.

Although the two guys barely interacted with each other for the past few days, the two first-year girls were talking with Hinata and himself as per normal. He glanced at the black-haired girl as she distributed the cold tea. The setter noticed that for the last few days, Asami seemed to be coming a bit later for club activities since she had a discussion with her homeroom teacher. It's probably related to the short story contest. When he asked her about it that day, she told him that Yamamoto-sensei finally found an idea she approved, so the black-haired girl could write about it over the summer break.

If she was happy about that, she didn't let it show. At all.

He couldn't recall the time he ever saw her showing her emotions openly. The tone she used when she spoke was usually very even. Sure, there were those little surprise looks or confused frowns here and there, but that was about all. He wondered whether she ever got happy or angry or scared. Well, to be fair, just because she didn't show it, it didn't mean she didn't have any emotion. He shouldn't jump to a conclusion. She was just good in managing her reactions to her emotions.

* * *

"Oh, it's raining."

Kageyama heard Sugawara said as they stepped out of the male changing rooms. Luckily, his sister watched the weather forecast news in the morning and told him to bring his folded umbrella to school. The seniors also took out their own umbrella while chatting excitedly about their upcoming summer holidays and the excursion to Tokyo. As they went down the stairs, he saw Asami leaning against the gym's door, folding her origami paper. Since her hands were busy with the paper, her transparent plastic umbrella hung on her left lower arm.

When you and your friend attended the same school, joined the same club, and lived in the same neighborhood, you're bound to meet each other on your way home. That was what happened with Kageyama and Asami. They didn't encounter each other that much before, because he usually hung out with Hinata after club activity. Now that Hinata went somewhere for his individual practice, he would walk home alone and often, stumbled upon the black-haired girl on his way. It was more awkward for him – and probably her as well – to keep their distance on their journey home when they actually knew each other. So, when they met, they would walk home together. Mostly in silence, although sometimes they chatted for a bit.

He couldn't recall when they started waiting for each other before going home.

It just sort of happened naturally.

The setter quietly separated himself from his fellow club members and approached her, opening his umbrella. "Asami-san," he called her. She looked up at him and put her barely done origami into her bag, opening her umbrella. He started walking, instinctively slowing his pace, allowing the shorter girl to fall into steps and walk next to him albeit the arm-length distance between them. Just like that, they walked home together.

* * *

"How's your individual practice going?" Asami asked him quietly.

He scowled at the thought of his practice earlier, with most of his sets missing the targets. She looked at his expression and hummed, "From that expression, not so good, I guess?"

"…Yeah, not so good," he admitted.

They fell into another bout of silence. Most of their conversation was brief and often initiated by Asami, with topic mostly revolving around their school and club activities. He blamed himself for that. He would overthink too much because he was worried that he would offend her in any way. Kageyama couldn't help but think that if he asked too many questions, the girl would think that he was prying too much into her personal life. Of course, the black-haired girl didn't actually think of that. It was all in his mind and yet, the nagging voice caused him to hold back.

"…It'll work out, eventually." He heard Asami mused quietly after few seconds of silence.

A grunt was all he gave as a reply to her statement.

The rain eased up when they were passing through the bridge above a small river, nearing their neighborhood. People were staying at home to avoid the heavy rain. There was barely anyone on the street. It should have been no surprise that beside the sounds of water river flowing, they also heard the sounds of crickets and frogs after a summer rain. The riverbank was surrounded by grassy fields after all. What he was confused about was how the girl flinched slightly occasionally, as if she was wary of something. She didn't look like the type to be scared of small insects or animals.

Needless to say, he didn't expect the girl's reaction when something blurry jumped from the grass and landed on her left elbow.

Asami froze.

He blinked.

… _Ribbit…_

" **AAAHHHHHHHHHH!**!"

The sight before was so bizarre that he could only stare with wide eyes.

Asami was flailing her arms around haphazardly, trying to get the creature off her arm. Umbrella thrown away in panic, landing somewhere on the grass. Her bag fell to a puddle on the ground. She was screaming in an uncharacteristically high-pitched voice.

Amazingly, despite her chaotic movement, the frog didn't fall down. If anything, it looked more determined to stay latched on the girl. It jumped further up, landing on her shoulder. She froze for a second as the creature was in such a close proximity to her face. Kageyama could see her face turning white as she trembled. Her eyes staring straight into an empty space, refusing to meet the creature eye-to-eye. When the little green animal croaked, she shrieked.

In her panic, she threw herself at Kageyama, arms squeezing his middle.

He felt himself flushed at their proximity.

There were many questions swimming in his head about their current situation, but all he could focus was the fact that Asami was hugging him. The feel of her thin arms around his body. Her hands clenching the back of his t-shirt. The warmth from her body heat. The sudden realization about how small she was compared to him – the top of her head barely reached his collarbones. Her face buried into his chest. The _non-existent_ distance between them.

A small sob coming from the girl snapped him out of his stupor.

He didn't expect her to be _crying_ , and that alarmed him.

Mentally telling himself to get his act together, he took a deep breath and quickly grabbed the small frog perching on her shoulder blade. The amphibian creature croaked innocently, staring at him. Without much thinking, he took a hold of the bright green animal and threw it into the river. The frog happily swam following the river current. He made sure that it disappeared from sight, worried about the girl's reaction if she knew that the creature was still nearby. Once he had made sure of that, he turned his attention back to Asami.

The said girl was shaking, holding onto him for dear life. He could still hear the sounds of her irregular breathing accompanied with small whimpers. A small part of his t-shirt felt slightly damp. Slowly but unsurely, he placed both hands on her shoulders. When she didn't respond, Kageyama gave her shoulders a light squeeze and quietly told her that the frog was gone. Within seconds, Asami sprang away from him. She gave him a few blinks as he looked at her carefully.

The black-haired girl looked positively embarrassed. Hairs messed up from her chaotic attempt to get rid of the animal. The usually braided section of her hair had come loose. Hands covering her cheeks, which were tinted with blush and tears trails. Dark blue eyes darting around before finally meeting his cobalt blue ones. "U-umm, s-s- **sorry**! T-that was- that's stupid of me to do t-that," she stuttered an apology in a high-pitch voice, arms flailing around awkwardly.

Damn it.

He didn't know a flustered Asami could look so cute.

* * *

"Asami-san, it's gone."

She was brought back to reality when she heard Kageyama's voice saying her name. Her eyes snapped open, feeling the small weight on her shoulder blade had disappeared. Asami forced herself to take several deep shuddering breaths. With the anxiety slowly dying down, the gears in her brain started to turn again. She quickly recounted what had happened after the stupid, slimy creature had landed on her. The last thing she remembered was her failed attempt to get rid of the animal as it hopped to her shoulder. In the moment of intense fear, she launched herself to something as a way to anchor herself from being swept away by the panic.

She was holding onto something solid, and tall, and warm, and-

When her brain finally put two and two together, she let go of Kageyama hastily, jumping away and taking a few steps back to give themselves a respectable distance. She blinked a few times to clear the unshed tears. For some reasons, despite the cool weather after rain, she was feeling hot. The girl placed both hands on her cheeks, feeling them warming up because of embarrassment. Even her neck felt hot. She shifted her gaze awkwardly to the ground. It was humiliating enough for her that the guy saw her whirling around because of a small frog.

Her hugging him made the whole situation worse.

Their friendship involved talking, helping each other, spending time together, but barelyany physical contact. It appeared to be an unspoken agreement between them to keep a certain distance when they interacted. In the first place, neither of them was easily comfortable with being physically close to opposite gender. The most they did was a simple tap on the shoulder or a flick. For her to cross the distance so thoughtlessly…that was incredibly shameful.

Slowly, she met his eyes. She noticed a small frown on his face, whether from confusion or worry or other things she couldn't tell. "U-umm, s-s- **sorry**! T-that was- that's stupid of me to do t-that," she stumbled an apology in a voice an octave higher than her usual one, awkwardly waving her arms. Turning around slightly, she cleared her throat, internally cursing at her own weird voice. Her cheeks were probably beet red.

"I-It's okay," Kageyama replied. The setter was the one who looked away this time, one hand scratching the back of his head awkwardly. His cheeks slightly pink.

The awkward silence hanging around them was killing her. Neither could see the other's eyes. The manager wrung her hands together, shifting her weight from one to another foot, and started rambling endlessly – something she did whenever she was nervous. "Erm, I just want to apologize. I'm really, really sorry for doing… _that._ It's just- I just really cannot stand frogs. Ugh, I just- I hate everything about them. They are downright _nasty_. They are slimy, cold, weirdly colored, weirdly shaped and _**their sac**_." She paused as she shuddered. "What is that even? A balloon attached to their neck?! Why do they look like that? And I haven't even started on how creepy their eyes are. They are jutting out and-"

A snort stopped her from her babbling.

Asami shifted her gaze to look at the boy, watching his shoulder shook with silent laughter. She narrowed her eyes, failing to see what amused him so. "Kageyama-san, why are you laughing?"

"You-" He replied, meeting her gaze, his mouth twitching weirdly as he tried to suppress a grin. There was a twinkle in his eyes which she had never seen before. "I never see you talk so intensely and animatedly before."

Mortified, her blush deepened. Brain stopped working as she overheated.

"Oh," was the only thing she could utter. "S-sorry, I tend to ramble when I'm nervous."

Kageyama simply grinned, somehow looking extremely pleased to see her doing things out of character. Thankfully, he didn't say or ask anything further. He moved past her to pick up her umbrella which lied on the wet grass, probably aware that she wouldn't go near the grass in fear of another frog appearing. She was glad for his help and thoughtfulness. The black-haired girl finally noticed her bag which fell into a puddle. She grimaced as she picked it up, dripping with muddy water. Fortunately, the bag was waterproof so the content inside remained clean and dry.

"So…you are scared of frogs?"

Asami heard him asking as he approached her, to which she nodded in confirmation. He passed her the plastic umbrella, looking down at her. Was it just her or he seemed to stand nearer to her than usual?

"Why do you hate them? I mean, I heard your rambling. It's just that something must have happened for you to have a major issue against them."

…

Kageyama could be annoyingly perceptive sometimes.

With a small sigh, she told him a short version of her terrible memory. "When I was a kid, I was following my father for his work. He was busy so he didn't pay much attention to me. I was wandering around when I slipped and fell into a pond with an army of frog. To top it off, I cannot swim. I was sinking, thinking I'm about to die, while being surrounded by numerous frogs. They were all around me. I can assure you that you definitely don't want to see them up close from _all. different. sides._ "

She shuddered, rubbing her eyes with both hands to get rid of the images, replacing it with happy thoughts. Like how Yamamoto-sensei finally approved her new outline, her mother homemade lunch box, the time she spent making rice balls with Shimizu and Yachi, the warmth she felt when she unintentionally hugged Kageyama- Did she just think of _that_ as one of her happy thoughts? She seriously needed to get herself together.

The boy grunted. "That sounds like a bad experience."

She couldn't help but chuckle a bit, lowering her hands to her sides. "It is, and no matter what, I just cannot get rid of the memories thus the fear of frogs."

After a beat of silence, he muttered, "…I guess even you have something you are scared of."

At his reply, she frowned a bit. "Of course, I do. I'm just like any other person."

When he remained silent, the shorter girl took a look at him. He was no longer looking at her. The way he stared into the sky so calmly made her wonder what was going through his mind. It looked almost wistful, as if he has just discovered something important.

* * *

Earlier awkward atmosphere among them was long gone. Asami had since calmed down, her cheeks returned to their usual color. Her usual impassive expression back in place. She untied her braid and run her fingers through her hair, trying to tidy it up a bit. When she somewhat felt tidier, she glanced at Kageyama, who had his usual brooding expression in place. He had kindly waited in silence for her to get herself together.

"It's getting late, we should go home," Asami stated, inwardly itching to go home to take a shower to get rid of the icky feel on her bare arm, where the frog had latched itself.

He nodded in agreement as both walked home side-by-side. Asami realized that she was not imagining that the physical distance among them had diminished slightly. They used to walk about an arm apart. Now it seemed that they had taken a tiny step closer towards each other. For a reason she was yet to understand, her heart leaped a little when she felt the distance between them had lessened, both physically and emotionally.

As they neared her house, the setter suddenly asked her, "Is frog the only animal you are scared of? I have a feeling that you have another thing you are afraid of."

She flinched a bit and kept mum.

He stared at her.

She bit her lower lip.

He smirked, realizing he had hit the mark.

"Lizards," she admitted with a small pout.

" _...Pfft!"_

Asami promptly shoved him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is a turning point for them. Kageyama saw that Asami was not as robotic and composed as he thought she was. And that she doesn't mind telling him about herself. This will help him to talk to her more comfortably. For Asami, she saw that sharing her personal thoughts and accepting her emotions might not be as bad as she thought. She has a certain level of respect towards the boy, but this incident makes her trust him more :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter! Next chapter we are finally going to Tokyo again!


	8. Offer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: By the way, I just realized that I never specify about how long Asami's hair is. Sorry for that! I have updated chapter 1 on the description part when I introduced her. If you are too lazy to re-read, her hair is shoulder-length. Hopefully I have time to draw Kageyama and Asami~

* * *

Summer in Tokyo was hotter and brighter than in Tohoku.

That was the first thing she thought of when she stepped out of the minibus.

Asami grabbed her bag and followed her bespectacled senior and brown-haired friend to greet the managers from other schools. It was great to see familiar faces. Fukurodani's third-year managers, Shirofuku and Suzumeda. Shinzen's second-year manager, Otaki. And Miyanoshita who was a first year from Ubugawa High. Despite herself, Asami found the group very welcoming and easy to be around with.

"Hi, Fucchi!" Suzumeda greeted her, slinging an arm over her shoulders and ruffling her hair with her other hand. For some reasons, the older girl had taken a liking at her thus the nickname. The others giggled, finding it amusing to see Asami looking unperturbed by the action. It was a sight to see as the shorter girl returned the greeting calmly and politely despite her messed-up hair. Strands of black hair jutting out in different directions. "Hello, Suzumeda-senpai."

The taller girl grinned happily upon hearing her reply, squeezing her cheeks playfully. Again, the others only grinned when Asami showed no reaction. The ponytailed girl finally let her go and kindly ushered the three Karasuno managers to put down their belongings in one of the classrooms before they all headed back to the gym.

Thus, began their week-long training camp in Tokyo.

* * *

Their first practice match was against Fukurodani. Coach Ukai announced that they would be constantly switching members while playing the matches. Probably to allow everyone to try their new techniques. Yachi was standing next to Shimizu as the older girl showed her how to take notes of the match. Asami was setting up a video camera on a tripod, courtesy of her mother.

When the quiet girl informed her mother that she had joined a volleyball club as their manager, her mother was very excited to see her daughter finally had an interest in something other than studying alone. To show her support, she bought a portable video camera for the club, knowing that the club didn't have a proper recording device. They had been using a tablet to record and watch their practice, so the light-weight video camera was a great help. The black-haired girl remained close to the video-cam to record Karasuno's matches. Both to adjust the angles and to protect it from stray shots.

After their last match of the day, she stopped the recording and passed the memory card to her coach. Coach Ukai thanked her and copied the data to his tablet so he could review the team's performance. The blonde coach and Takeda-sensei watched the video seriously, pointing out areas of improvement.

They lost with a big score gap on almost every match, but the messiest game was the first one. Failed sync attack, missed serves, and failed tosses and spikes. Even Kageyama messed up his aim to Hinata while trying to do the falling toss. At one point, it was too short. At another point, it was too far. She recalled Kageyama's face flushed slightly when he made mistakes, gritting his teeth and then, his surprised look when Hinata used his left hand to reach the ball. A small smile formed on her lips. It always amused her to see the setter's expression changed to reflect what he felt.

"Asami-san, can you help to pass the plates over there?" Otaki's voice jerked her out of her musing. She was helping the managers from Shinzen and Ubugawa to prepare and serving dinner. Mentally, she scolded herself to get distracted while cooking. She was lucky that she didn't accidentally hurt herself when cutting the vegetables while being in deep thought. Shaking her head to clear her mind, the younger girl passed her a stack of clean plates, "Here, senpai."

The second year smiled gently. "Thank you. Can you help to remind those who are still practicing? They have to come down soon to eat their dinner before the cafeteria closes. We can manage here."

Asami glanced at Miyanoshita, who smiled and nodded in agreement to the older girl's statement. Indeed, there were quite a lot of people who were still practicing on their own, mostly those from Karasuno. She had only seen some of the second years from her school ate their dinner. Knowing the team, they were likely to be too engrossed in their practice to notice the time.

Nodding, the black-haired girl left the cafeteria which was in the main building to go to the gymnasium. On her way, she saw Tsukishima going to Gymnasium #3. At its entrance, there were a tall guy with black spiky hair, whom she remembered to be Nekoma's captain, and Fukurodani's Ace and setter. It was a weird and surprising combination. She didn't expect the bespectacled blonde to willingly help someone from another school for free practice. He didn't even practice with his teammates.

When she stopped and stared for a bit, her eyes unfortunately met Nekoma's captain's eyes.

"Hey, you are one of Karasuno's managers, right?" He asked with a toothy grin. She nodded and he continued. "Can you help us with tossing some balls?"

She blinked while staring at him, pointing at the direction of Gymnasium #1. "…I need to inform my team about dinner time."

He dismissed her argument, approaching her. "It's fine~ There's more than enough time before dinner time ends and the other managers surely know about it. We just need your help for a bit."

Before she could do anything, he had stood behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, and pushed her towards the gymnasium. He didn't push very hard, but Asami knew better not to struggle pointlessly. And he did make a good point. If it was only for a short while, there was no harm in helping them. Surely, Shimizu and Yachi would have make sure that the guys stopped practicing to eat their meals.

Noticing her lack of resistance, the spiky black-haired guy grinned. "And one of Karasuno members is here anyway. You are just doing your job as a manager by helping him to do extra practice."

Upon entering the gym, her navy-blue eyes met Tsukishima's golden-brown ones. He raised an eyebrow at her, as if asking what the heck she was doing. She shrugged, taking her place next to a basket filled with volleyballs. Her job was easy. To pass the ball to Fukurodani's setter. They had told her she could pass it in any way she wanted to make the practice more interesting.

She learned their names as the practice went on. Fukurodani's Ace was Bokuto and setter Akaashi. Nekoma's captain was called Kuroo, while the silver-haired guy Lev. While Kuroo was training Lev on his receives, Bokuto was spiking one ball after another with Tsukishima as the only blocker. As one of the top five spikers in the country, his attacks were strong. The bespectacled guy was unable to stop his attacks even though he could read the direction of the spike. The sheer force pushed back the blonde's arm backwards.

Only when he combined forces with Kuroo, they finally managed to block Bokuto's attack. Her eyes narrowed a bit when she noticed Kuroo shifting his arms position mid-air when blocking Bokuto's spike, causing the former to cheer and the latter to groan.

"You know, four eyes, you're good at reading attacks, but your blocks are weak!" Bokuto stated to Tsukishima as he crossed his arms. "Your arms are so frail that I'm scared I'm gonna break them! You need to stop the ball like you mean it!"

That seemed to annoyed Tsukishima to some extent as he retorted somewhat childishly with both hands on his hip. "I'm still a growing boy. I've just started gaining muscle and getting taller." The bicolor-haired guy growled a bit in irritation at Tsukishima remarks.

"Talk like that, and _chibi-chan_ is gonna hog all the glory. You guys play the same position, right?" Kuroo snickered as he added in his thoughts teasingly.

Tsukishima's expression changed at the comment as silence covered them. There was a glimpse of dark glint passing through his face. It was there and then gone so fast that she almost missed it. Realizing that he had let his emotions showed on the surface, he wiped them all away and put on a fake smiling face. "I don't think that can be helped. The difference in natural talent between me and Hinata is too great."

His words confused her. When talking about natural talent in volleyball, Asami honestly thought that Tsukishima and Kageyama would be those considered the ones with natural talents. They had the height and the brain. Hinata's skills and instincts were results from his hard work and relentless practice. And looking at the expression on Nekoma's captain's face, he probably agreed with her.

Just then, players from Nekoma team came inside the gym and excitedly joined the group. With the number of people increasing, Tsukishima took his leave with a smile. The manager decided she didn't like his fake smile. She would rather him looking sullen, throwing his blunt or sarcastic remarks around. At least, it was genuine.

"Oooh! It's the pure type manager!"

Asami visibly flinched. All thoughts in her head flew away at the sound of an unfortunately familiar person. She instinctively took a step back as the mohawk-haired guy rushed to greet her, eyes filled with excitement. Thankfully, before he managed to come too close, the captain grabbed him at the back of his collar and scolded him. "Oi, Tora. Don't scare the girl!" Tora sulked when Kuroo shoved him to practice with the rest of Nekoma team.

"Sorry about that," Kuroo apologized, albeit not looking apologetic at all. "That guy gets too excited because we have no female manager."

Indeed, Nekoma was the only school in the camp which had no female manager. It was weird to think that no girl from their school wanted to join as a manager. She wondered whether it had to do with the zealous guy called Tora. He somewhat reminded her of Tanaka and his dedication towards Shimizu. Both were honest and passionate in showing the world about what they felt.

The tall black-haired guy continued, "Thanks for helping our short practice. Since we have more than enough people and your team member has left, you can go back to your 'dinner time' duty."

She nodded and walked away, but paused at the entrance. "Can I ask something before I leave, Kuroo-san?"

"Hmm?

"Did you purposefully bait Bokuto-san to do a cross attack just now? Or did you read his attack direction mid-air?"

Her query earned a different response from the people present. Bokuto's jaw dropped slightly as he raved to his setter. Akaashi looked unamused as he ignored the bicolor-haired guy. The rest of the people who were not there earlier just looked confused. She tilted her head as Kuroo's eyes widened for a second before they went back to their normal size. He seemed to be deep in thoughts, before finally offered with a smirk, "Why don't you help us with our practice until you get your own answer about it?"

She raised an eyebrow at the proposal. The third year certainly knew how to pique her interest. Instead of giving the answer right away, he challenged her by allowing her to observe the practice and figure it out herself. Perhaps he could tell that the girl was never one to just accept an answer given to her. Asami enjoyed analyzing things and coming to her own conclusions. It only took her a second to answer as she spun on her heels and returned to the gym.

"Then, I'll gladly take your offer."

* * *

Despite the penalty's name, doing it was anything but refreshing. The summer sun was glaring at them as they sprinted up the steep grassy hill. Among all the schools attending the camp, Karasuno team was the one who did the penalty the most. They were yet to win a match at the moment.

So, it was no surprise that they looked the happiest for the short intermission when the managers arrived with chilled, sliced watermelons. The coaches allowed the team to relax for a short while as they enjoyed the fruit together outside the gym. Although the sun was bright, there was wind blowing which allowed them to relax and cool down as they talked to one another.

Kageyama had finished his first slice when he noticed Asami holding a plate with two big watermelon slices. He approached her and asked whether he could get another slice. She nodded and he took one, shifting so he stood next to her. Ever since their last 'incident', they had somewhat gotten more relaxed around each other. Small talks were becoming normal things. He had more confidence to initiate a conversation, while the girl's speech when talking to him had become more casual. It was a nice, little change between them.

"What are you doing?" He asked, munching his slice of watermelon. The girl was fidgeting, trying her best to stay as close as possible to the building's wall.

"Avoiding the sun."

Her cheeks and the tip of her nose were turning red, although she only stayed under the bright sun for few minutes. She looked uncomfortable to be under the sun. It seemed that her skin was the type to get burnt easily. The girl scrunched up her face as the clouds moved and sunlight directly hit her face. Her hands were holding onto the plate so she couldn't use her hand to shade her face. Feeling slightly bad for her, he slowly moved to stand in front of her so he could shield her from the light.

When he looked back at her over his shoulder, she was meeting his gaze, blinking those blue eyes uncertainly. After a moment, realizing how his tall frame was shading her smaller one, her expression relaxed. "Thanks, Kageyama-kun." He grunted back in response, looking away as her face reverted back to its usual stoic look.

"…Where did you go last night?" He asked her tentatively, trying not to sound overly curious as he finished the watermelon.

Truth to be told, he was _very_ interested to know where the girl went last night. He didn't see her at all during his free practice with Hinata and Yachi. She was quick to disappear when managers from other schools called her over after their last match ended. Shimizu had said that Asami was helping with dinner preparation, which should not take her so long. Yet, he didn't see her after that. The next time he saw her was the next morning during the practice matches.

Her answer caught him by surprise. "Oh, I was on Gym #3 with Kuroo-san, Bokuto-san, and Akaashi-san."

"What?"

"I was helping Kuroo-san, Bokuto-san, and Akaashi-san for their free practice." Asami repeated before explaining further. "Last night, I was passing by the gym when Kuroo-san spotted me. He asked for help to toss the ball when there were not enough people. Long story short, I was curious about some things and the way Kuroo-san did his blocking. He allowed me to continue observing I fulfil my curiosity."

That explained why she went missing at night time. Still, he was a bit stunned that Asami somehow had gotten involved with Nekoma and Fukurodani captains. They didn't really need her help. Yet, they were fine with having her around during practice. She wasn't even from their schools. He couldn't help but think how weird it was, especially the part where Kuroo-san openly inviting her to join their free practice. Since when did he become so friendly with her?

"We're not that close, if that's what you're thinking," she added. "I took his offer just to satisfy my own curiosity."

Kageyama stuttered his reply, slightly flustered as she answered his unspoken question. "I-I know! I just didn't expect that…"

The girl frowned slightly, but thankfully decided not to comment further as they both walked into the gym. She excused herself to return the plate to the cafeteria, leaving him alone as the practice was about to resume. He was so distracted by her story that he didn't even notice her plate was empty, someone had taken the last slice on the plate.

Without saying anything, he slapped both his cheeks with his hands, the loud sound surprising the people around him. He needed to get himself together. He had to focus on working on his new techniques. He had to focus on get things right to win their matches.

He couldn't afford to get distracted by the thought of Asami spending time with others.


	9. Hopeful

* * *

Asami felt a tug on her sleeve and heard the voice of her friend murmuring, "Ne, Fuji-chan. Do you think it's okay?"

"What's okay?"

"Kageyama-kun and Hinata," Yachi replied. "They are practicing together, but they aren't talking to each other."

The black-haired girl wiped the sweats trailing down the side her neck with the back of her hand as she observed their surroundings. The three managers were distributing chilled water bottles to the team who just finished another round of penalty. Among them was the aforementioned duo. They were standing somewhat far away from each other.

Honestly, she was too preoccupied about her own questions to Kuroo few day ago that the issue between the two guys didn't even cross her mind. Then again, not talking to each other was not always a bad thing. Kageyama and Hinata probably just needed more time to sort out their own internal thoughts. No point worrying about things she couldn't do anything about.

"Worrying doesn't solve anything though," she voiced out her thoughts bluntly.

Flinching slightly, the brown head gave a wry smile. "Somehow, I expected that reply coming from you, Fuji-chan. You're always looking at things rationally, huh?" Yachi's smile faltered as she continued, concerns written all over her face. "But you know, sometimes you cannot help but get worried when your friends fight. Like, you wonder whether they can be friends again, and it's sad if they are no longer friends..."

After a short silence, Asami opted not to say anything and patted her friend on the back instead. The brown-eyed girl brightened up a little, appreciative for the black head's effort to cheer her up. Asami didn't quite understand why Yachi was concerned about the two, but she knew that there was a time where she just had to keep her own opinion to herself and kept quiet. This was one of those moments.

Sometimes Yachi was too nice for her own good. Worrying about others and doing her best to be a peacemaker for her friends. That wasn't something Asami was capable of doing. Still, it was admirable how Yachi could face and show her feelings so readily and admit them openly. Asami was the opposite. More often than not, she put aside her feelings and favored her logic. And logically speaking, she saw no reason to be worried about Kageyama and Hinata.

* * *

"Oi, you _**held**_ _back_ , didn't you?!"

All right, so, maybe Yachi had a point.

When Hinata started shouting at Kageyama in the middle of their match and the setter looking agitated at the orange head's comments, their teacher had to call for a time-out before it turned into another fist fight. Their teammates tried to appease both of them. At that moment, Yachi had glanced at her, brows furrowed. Her blue eyes met her friend's brown ones. Asami whispered to her friend "It will be okay" as an effort to calm her friend down. It would be okay.

It _had_ to be okay.

* * *

Just like previous nights, she joined Nekoma's and Fukurodani's captains for their extra practice. The two seniors had remembered her name by now, but unlike Bokuto who left her alone most of the time, Kuroo used any opportunity to try pull her legs or push her buttons, interested to see what other expression the usually impassive girl would make. So far, he only managed to get an annoyed glare from her when he kept on insinuating something about Tsukishima and her.

Talking about Tsukishima, he had become a part of the practice group after the blonde came the other night to ask the seniors some questions about their motivation as to why they practiced so hard for what he called, just a club. When all was said and done, Bokuto and Kuroo had forced the blonde to do blocking for them. Although still looking sullen, Tsukishima no longer complained about the extra practice.

Now, the reason why Kuroo was teasing them.

For two quiet and private people, they surprisingly got along well. Granted, they didn't talk much to each other before, but then they discovered they had similar taste in music. Not exactly alike, but very similar. What started as a small talk became an in-depth conversation about songs in their playlist. It was easy for others to see how close they were standing to each other as Tsukishima blatantly and smugly critiqued one of her favorite bands – which ticked her off, not that she let it show. Well, she preferred Tsukishima that way. It was better than when he faked a smile.

"Oh? Tsukki, Asami-chan, did you bring a friend today?"

Both Tsukishima and Asami's head snapped up at Bokuto's question, faced with a surprised Hinata. She was confused – and admittedly, just a _tiny_ bit bothered – that Hinata had come alone. Yachi had mentioned that Kageyama and Hinata were practicing together, but now it seemed that they were back to separate practice again. Did their relationship get worse after their fight earlier? Hopefully not.

She quickly asked Hinata, wanting to dispel her own, dare she said, worry, "What happened to your practice with Kageyama-kun?"

Hinata grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "Kageyama's starting to practice on his own again. I was trying to get Kenma to throw me tosses but after the fifth one, he ran away."

Looking at the bright expression and relaxed tone from Hinata, Asami let out a small relieved sigh. It didn't look like they were in a fight or anything. They were just practicing on their own again, probably thinking that separate practices would be better for them. Just like before. They would be fine.

"So, please let me practice with you!" shouted Hinata, and Lev – who just appeared – as they looked at each other in surprise. Kuroo frowned at Lev, since he was supposedly practicing his receives with Yaku. The silver-haired boy replied that he was doing well and was let go early by the Libero. Based on his panicked tone and flinches, Asami presumed he was lying and had run away from the receive practice.

The captain from Nekoma shrugged. "Well, whatever. Since we have the right number of people, let's play some three-on-three," Kuroo suggested, splitting them into two teams: Owl team vs. Cat team. What an interesting play on their school names. She would have suggested Crow for Karasuno team, but looking at the team arrangement, the naming actually made sense.

The team arrangement was…unexpected. Cat team consisted of Kuroo, Lev, and Tsukishima. Three tall middle blockers. While the Owl team was mix of players who had different positions and on slightly shorter statures: Akaashi who was a setter, Hinata a middle blocker, and Bokuto a wing spiker. Asami pitied Akaashi, who already looked exhausted from the thought of his energetic Ace and the equally enthusiastic Hinata in his team.

"Asami-chan, help us to take note of the scores," Kuroo told the girl, passing her a small whistle.

"Okay," she replied, standing next to the score board. She let the players took their position and blew the whistle.

* * *

"Lev! I told you to jump after looking at the toss!" Kuroo warned. "Read blocking!"

They were really getting into it. She noticed how good Kuroo really was as a middle blocker. He was able to block and receive the spikes while still giving advice and instructions to the other two in his team. Indeed, Tsukishima and Lev played better after they listened to the senior's guidance. She flipped the scoreboard as the blonde shut out Hinata's attack, causing the shorter boy to growl in frustration.

"Um…" The males stopped their game at the interruption and looked towards the entrance where Shirofuku and Suzumeda stood. "If you don't wrap up soon, the cafeteria will close, and you won't get any dinner."

At the statement, Asami glanced at the clock on the wall and mentally scolded herself for not checking the time. It was a bad habit of hers that she lost track of time and her surroundings whenever she was too focused in something. They stopped the match and walked out of the gym, with the three managers trailing slightly behind.

"Fucchi, you need to keep them in control. They will miss dinner time when they are way into their practice." Suzumeda told her with a grin, patting the younger girl's head. Asami kept her poker face as she replied, "Sorry, I will be more careful next time."

"Who is Fucchi?" Bokuto stoped as he turned around and asked his fellow third year, his tone laced with curiosity.

Suzumeda looked at the ace from her school and smiled brightly. "It's a nickname I gave Fuji-chan since she looks like my cat, Bucchi!"

There was a silence as the rest stared at the ponytailed girl's random comment.

"Hmm? Doesn't Fucchi remind you of a cat?" She asked, pointing to the younger girl. "I have a Persian cat at home, and she looks a lot like him."

The others shifted their gaze to the black-haired manager, mentally comparing Asami to the aforementioned cat breed. The round eyes. The calm and non-demanding demeanor. The way they needed time to warm up to strangers. The surprisingly friendly nature beneath the emotionless mask and aloof attitude. The quiet voice.

The girl shied away from the attention, a finger twirling her braided hair as she looked away.

The group, except for Akaashi and Tsukishima, responded with an 'ooh~".

"Now that you mention it, I can see the similarities." Kuroo grinned and rubbed his chin, bending down so he was on the same eye level with the girl. "If you are a 'cat', doesn't Nekoma suit you better? We're ' _neko_ ' after all."

Before she could retort to his joke, her teammates had intercepted the older guy.

"Asami-san is our manager!"

"Kuroo-san, please stop saying nonsense."

Hinata stood between her and Kuroo, arms outstretched to the sides, trying to protect her from the senior. She wasn't that surprised when the orange-haired boy coming to her defense, but she was taken aback to hear the bespectacled blonde speaking up on her behalf. It was even more surprising that his choice of words was the same as what she would have said if she was to reply to Kuroo.

Still smirking, Kuroo raised both his hands in the air. "Just kidding, chibi-chan~ We won't take your precious manager."

Noticing the pout on Hinata's face, Kuroo distracted the orange-haired boy with a promise that they would continue their interrupted match the next day. That made the boy smiled broadly, his eyes brightened at the prospect of practicing with top players from top schools. He started shouting in excitement and raced with Bokuto towards the cafeteria, while the rest decided to walk normally. She fell into steps with Tsukishima, continuing their interrupted debate on a song she liked but he hated.

She didn't notice the sly grin from Kuroo and the two older female managers.

* * *

It was their last day in the training camp.

That was the first thing that came to his mind when Kageyama opened his eyes. He let out a big yawn and turned to his side. The room was quiet, saved for the sounds of people breathing and snoring. With the curtains fully drawn, it was dark. The only source of light being the dim fluorescent lights in the corridor. Seeing the light was still on, it was probably earlier than their designated wake-up time.

He tried falling back to sleep, but after few tosses and turns, he decided to get up. No point forcing himself to go back to sleep when he was wide awake. The setter slowly slid open the door, trying his best to be noiseless as not to disturb others. He thought he could probably go for a short jog around the school before breakfast.

First thing first, he had to wash his face and brush his teeth.

On his way to the washroom, he saw something small and thin on the floor, near the staircase leading to the second floor. It was a black mechanical pencil. He picked it up curiously, thinking who could have dropped it. He probably could ask during practice and return it to its owner.

A soft snoring sound caught his attention. His steel-blue eyes glanced up the stairs, widening slightly at what he saw.

The sight of Asami sleeping on stairs was something he didn't expect.

He found himself climbing the stairs and bent down in front of her, observing her at a closer distance. The black-haired girl was sitting on the step nearest to the landing. Her back against the wall and her knees drawn close towards her chest. Mouth slightly parted. Her head tilted slightly to the side as her shoulders moved rhythmically with each deep breath she took. Her left hand was holding onto a stack of papers which were placed on her lap, while her right hand hung limply on her side. She probably dropped the pencil in her slumber, which then rolled down the stairs and to the floor. Despite the uncomfortable position, she looked like she was sleeping deeply.

Looking at her peaceful expression, he almost felt bad that he had to wake her up, but it wasn't as if he could leave her. It was summer, but the night was still quite chilly. She could get sick if she slept there. Tentatively, he called in a soft voice. "Asami-san?"

Apparently, she was a light sleeper – something he just discovered about her. Even though his voice was barely above a whisper, her eyes snapped open upon hearing her name being called, eyes darting around blearily. It was amusing to see that even in her current state, her grip on the papers didn't falter. He waited until her eyes met his, blinking several times. She let out a small sigh while rubbing her eyes.

"Hello, Kageyama-kun. What are you doing here?"

He frowned, ignoring her question. "What are _**you**_ doing here?"

The girl didn't reply immediately as she gently massaged her neck. Probably sore from her bad sleeping posture. "Writing." She lifted the stack of papers with both hands for him to see. "I need to finish the short story before summer break ends."

That explained why the papers had a lot of words written on them. It was probably her submission for the contest she had told him about few weeks back. He knew she had to submit her story to her teacher at least a week before the deadline. With their daily club activities and training camp, she had been quite busy. The only time for her to write was at night after she finished her tasks for the day. She probably sneaked out when the other managers had fallen asleep.

…

Wait, with her schedule, did she even sleep?

"What time do you start and end this?" He asked as he pointed to the papers. Asami blinked slowly, eyes lidded, looking tired although she just woke up. She covered her mouth as a yawn escaped her lips. "…Usually after midnight until…early morning."

"For the whole week?"

A nod. "For the whole week."

"Are you **stupid**?" He shouted as he stood up. She shushed him when he raised his voice. He immediately clamped his mouth shut; his cheeks flushed when he realized he had lost his temper. That was the first time the setter got _that_ irritated with the girl.

"I'm not stupid. Today is the first time I accidentally fell asleep here. Usually I would have gone back to the room to get some sleep." Asami explained. "Don't worry. I make sure my personal stuff doesn't disturb my duty as a manager."

It was hard to argue when she reasoned so calmly. Honestly, he wasn't angry at her. He was just a little… _troubled_. For someone smart like her, he would have thought that she would have taken care of herself better, but it seemed the girl put her tasks and responsibilities above her own well-being.

"You need to sleep," he finally muttered. "We need enough sleep to function properly."

"I'm fine. Today's the last day anyway. I can catch up on sleep when I'm back at home," she replied evenly, stretching her arms above her head. She could be really stubborn when she wanted to. He raked his fingers through his hair tiredly, not having the energy to have an early morning argument with anyone – and especially not with Asami.

The girl lifted her back off the wall. He thought she would get up and go to her room to get some rest. Instead, she positioned herself on the step with her legs outstretched, her feet reaching the step further below from where she sat. Putting her papers on the floor on her right, she patted the empty spot on her left. "Come and sit here," she suggested, looking up at him. Kageyama stared at her weirdly, confused about her request. Why did she want him to sit with her? If anything, she should go back to her room to get some sleep. When he made no move, she tilted her head. A flash of hurt and confusion passed through her eyes.

"I'm just thinking that we haven't talked for some time and I just want to catch up with you. And it's hard to find you these days." She pulled her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, never once breaking their eye contact, and asked tentatively, "…Is it no good?"

Noticing her forlorn expression and the plaintive tone of her voice, he quickly replied, "I-It's not a bad thing." Asami had always had this feel of certainty when she spoke, but this time, her voice sounded different. There was something about the way she carefully put her words. Like she was scared that he would reject her. It was weird to hear her sounded so unsure and almost sad.

He sighed.

When she sounded like that, how could he say no?

The setter gingerly moved and sat next to her, leaving a small distance between the two of them. When he finally found a comfortable position – one arm at the back supporting his weight and the other arm placed on top of his bended knee while his other leg outstretched in front of him – she finally said something.

"So, how's the new quick practice going?"

"Better."

"Oh? Does that mean you will use it on a match?"

"…"

"I'll take the silence as a 'not yet?'"

"The success rate is too low. I cannot risk doing it on a match and fails."

Asami frowned a bit. "Don't think so low of yourself. You're quite an amazing setter, you know. I think you have better chance of success in the new quick than you think."

He was slightly flustered at her unexpected, yet frank praise. Even after spouting those flattering words, Asami was just looking at him blankly. He repressed his blush and cleared his throat before asking her back, trying to change the topic. "How about you? Do you finally satisfy your curiosity?"

She pondered quietly, her index finger tapping the side of her knee. "Somewhat. Kuroo-san's tricky to read. What I know is that Kuroo-san and Bokuto-san are _really_ good players and they are surprisingly nice to their juniors. They don't seem to mind teaching Tsukishima and Hinata how to play better."

"Hinata too?" That was new to him. He knew that Hinata practiced with someone else after he decided to have individual practice during free practice time, but he didn't expect the orange head to join the practice group with the two captains.

"Yep, since the time the two of you chose to practice separately, again, Hinata has been joining the practice group. He is good at praising Bokuto-san and getting him to teach him something new." Asami yawned before continuing. "You'll probably be able to see what Hinata learnt on a match."

Kageyama sighed, looking at her sleepy expression. She kept shaking her head to wake herself up, only to find herself nodding off again within seconds. "Asami-san, you _really_ need to rest. We'll find another time to talk." The girl was quiet for a while before she finally agreed with a sigh, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

He stood up and offered his hand to help her up. The girl stared at his hand for a moment before taking it, allowing him to pull her into her feet with ease. They stood facing each other silently. Her hand felt small and cold against his bigger and warmer one. When he looked into her eyes, they looked different than usual. Deeper. Bluer.

Shaking his head to snap himself out of the thought, Kageyama turned over her hand which he was holding, putting the pencil he picked up using his free hand on her opened palm. "Go get some sleep, there is still time before wake-up time," he told her, curling her fingers around the pencil.

She nodded as he let go of her hand. Of course, she didn't forget to pick up her papers, holding them close to her chest. He turned and walked down as she went up the stairs, pausing when he heard her calling him. "Kageyama-kun."

Kageyama looked up, allowing his eyes to meet hers, and was surprised to see a small, sleepy smile on her lips.

"I hope I can see your new quick before the camp ends."

He was stunned to silence as she continued to climb the stairs, the sounds of her footsteps fading in the background.

Was it weird of him that his heart skipped when she smiled hopefully like that at him?


	10. Connected

* * *

"Apparently, the coaches are going to treat us to a barbecue."

Asami paused as she overheard their captain telling Kageyama, Hinata, Nishinoya, and Tanaka, wondering how the third-year senior managed to know about the special lunch plan. The managers were informed about it since they were helping with the preparation, but they were under strict order to keep silence about it. It was meant to be a token of appreciation – a surprise – for the players who had worked hard for the past one week.

The barbecue announcement quite literally boosted their morale and energy. Tanaka was leading the other three to dance to his "meat song," with Hinata and Nishinoya moving their arms together in a circle and throwing their arms in the air. Behind them, Kageyama was awkwardly trying to join the dance but he ended up just fidgeting and moving around awkwardly.

Biting her lower lips to stop herself from laughing out loud at the sight of the quartet dancing, Asami turned away from them. She approached the third-year manager who had called her over to help with the video camera setup. As she secured the device on the tripod, she allowed herself to giggle softly, reminded of the weird dance Kageyama did.

He was such an adorable dork sometimes.

* * *

The sound of a whistle marked the beginning of their final match in the training camp.

Asahi was the first to serve. His jump serve was received by Fukurodani's Libero, although the receive was slightly off. Akaashi quickly moved to recover the ball, tossing it to their team's Ace. Kageyama was watching the ball, getting ready to jump, when Tsukishima moved next to him. "Tighten up for the straight." He heard the bespectacled middle blocker telling him urgently. "If there's even the slightest gap, it'll get through."

Right after the blonde mentioned that, they saw Bokuto jumped and spiked the ball. The ball bounced back to Fukurodani's side of the court after hitting Tsukishima's left hand, landing outside the line and giving a point to Fukurodani. Kageyama was both annoyed and impressed that Tsukishima had gotten better in reading attacks and blocking. His night practice with Nekoma's and Fukurodani's captain certainly had taught him something.

Unlike their first match with Fukurodani, their scores were somewhat evenly matched with Karasuno only slightly behind. Among the many attacks from Fukurodani, the opponent's team Ace did an insanely sharp cut shot which couldn't even be stopped by three people. As expected from one of the top five spikers – the same person who taught Hinata how to do feint.

When Hinata actually chose to do a feint in their match, it surprised everyone, including Kageyama. No one would have thought that Hinata could think and decide the right timing to pull it off. He felt a surge of pride at his partner's improvement. The orange-haired boy had definitely changed. Instead of playing purely just relying on his instincts alone, Hinata had learnt to use his head and thought of how to attack to score. He no longer just blindly spiked a ball or used only one hand to reach the ball. The middle blocker was doing really well on the match.

Maybe they could-

He stopped himself. No, they shouldn't. The new quick attack might not work. Yes, his condition was really good that day. He felt his body was more responsive than usual and he could tell how his teammates and opponents were moving around him. The team was in an excellent condition.

As the ball came to him, he saw Hinata moving towards the net. A flash of their previous failed attempts came into mind. If they failed, it would affect the team's spirit. He didn't want to risk the good atmosphere by failing to do the new quick. Kageyama decided to hold off on the new quick until they had a higher chance of success.

" _You're not gonna do it?"_

When his eyes met Hinata's, it was as if he could hear the orange-haired boy prompting him to give the falling toss. Against his better judgement, he visualized his previous night's practice and tossed the ball towards the middle blocker who was already jumping. Once the ball left his hands, Kageyama could tell that it was moving in a direction he wanted, with the right force and rotation. He watched as the ball went towards Hinata and stopped mid-air…

It connected.

He watched as Hinata's hand hit the ball to the other side of the court. There was a moment of silent disbelief as the referee blew the whistle once. They scored. Simultaneously, the duo looked at each other, shouting in joy and disbelief.

When the situation finally sank in – that Hinata asked him to do the new quick out of nowhere – he grumbled at his partner. "You've got to be kidding me! If you're gonna do that, let me know earlier!"

"I just felt like we could pull it off! Didn't you?!"

"I did! But it was too **sudden**! I need to mentally prepare, and stuff!"

"Who cares? We finally did it!"

It was not just them who were excited upon seeing the new attack. He faintly heard the cheers from their coaches and teammates, even as Hinata was showering him with praises. Kageyama was feeling a bit conflicted– both happy and embarrassed – when the shorter guy looked at him with sparkling eyes while complimenting him so straightforwardly. He didn't know what kind of expression he was making.

He snapped out of his embarrassment to complain. "Anyway, next time, make sure you-"

"You did it!"

A happy exclamation from Yachi made the two turned their heads towards the girl. The brown head girl was jumping in excitement, truly ecstatic that finally, after weeks, both Hinata and himself could make their new combination worked. She had been helping them for the past few weeks and saw their fight and struggles. It was understandable that she was looking forward for the new quick as much as the duo did.

Kageyama shifted his gaze to a certain black-haired girl who told him that she hoped to see their new quick on a match, just few hours ago. Asami was just staring at them silently, but her expression was anything but blank. Jaw dropped open, eyes wide opened and filled with something akin to surprise and excitement. Both hands fisted, raised near her chest. Unlike last time, his heart didn't skip when he saw a full, happy smile slowly forming on Asami's face.

It leaped.

* * *

Asami could hear her own loudly pounding heartbeats as she saw Hinata jumping and then hitting Kageyama's falling toss. She didn't even notice her taking a sharp intake of breath and clenching her fists near her chest as the ball hit the other side of the court. A strange warmth spread inside of her as the others cheered to celebrate the duo's first successful new quick. It was a weird but not unpleasant sensation. Next to her, Yachi was literally jumping in joy, excited that the new quick attack had finally worked. "You did it! You did it! Nice kill, Hinata! Kageyama-kun!" She had never seen her best friend literally, jumping in joy.

When the two guys looked at them – Kageyama with a serious expression and Hinata with a bright smile – and extended their fists towards them, Yachi trembled in excitement and grinned. Honestly, in the midst of the celebratory mood, Asami didn't know what kind of face she was making. There were so many feelings swirling inside her. She was not used to experience so many emotions at one time. Her brain had given up trying to manage them, welcoming the most intense feeling out of all of them.

Joy

Gradually, unintentionally, she let herself relaxed, allowing her emotions to show on her face. Her eyes lit up. Her lips curved upwards almost automatically. She hadn't meant to give the two guys a smile, but she did anyway. The black-haired girl didn't notice Hinata's surprised yet cheery look as her blue eyes connected with Kageyama. She saw the corner of his lips quirked up just ever so slightly, before breaking their eye contact to return his focus to the ongoing match.

Asami, however, kept her gaze on the court, specifically on the black-haired setter. She couldn't help but think of their earlier conversation. Knowing him, he would remember her parting remarks to him, which explained his small smile. She felt strangely jittery – in a good way – to see he remembered her random request.

At that thought, the grin on her face grew even wider.

Not that she noticed.

The blue-eyed girl felt someone's gaze on her, causing her grin to falter a bit. She turned her head to the side to see Yachi staring at her with a delighted smile.

Asami blinked. "What is it?"

The brown head giggled while nudging Asami's side with her elbow. "That's the happiest expression I've ever seen from you, Fuji-chan."

At her best friend's remarks, she blinked. Realizing that she was behaving out of her usual character, she turned slightly pink. She looked away hastily, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. Taking a few deep breaths, the black-haired girl tried to erase the grin off her face. Yet, the images of the new quick and a small smile Kageyama gave her kept coming back. Her lips kept curling upwards, refusing to obey her brain's instructions.

She chewed the inside of her cheeks, mentally sighing.

Why did that boy make her act weirdly?

* * *

The match resumed with both teams in higher spirits than ever. Karasuno team was pumped up after seeing the first-year duo new combination. Fukurodani team, led by Bokuto, was excited to keep their opponent in check. Unfortunately, after the short celebration of their first successful quick attack, Kageyama lost his concentration. The next attempt for the quick attack ended in a failure. The ball's momentum stopped too early although he visualized the same thing as earlier attack. It stopped and fell before it reached Hinata.

Hinata tried to encourage his partner that Kageyama didn't have to worry so much about the mistake, but the setter was annoyed – probably at his own miss – and complained at Hinata, although it was done without any ill intention. The seniors grinned at each other when the first years made a mistake, declaring that it was their time to shine.

Hinata managed to block an attack, which was recovered by Kageyama. Without their setter on standby, Nishinoya rushed to the front and jumped to set the ball for Asahi's back row attack. Although it resulted in an out, that was the first time the libero managed to properly set a ball for their Ace. It was still considered as a major improvement.

More than just winning the match, they were focusing on honing their new weapons. From Kageyama and Hinata's new quick, the combination between the Libero and the Ace, and finally, their synchronized attack on first tempo. With all the spikers running and jumping at the same time, it was difficult for the opposing team's blockers to tell who would receive the toss. Tanaka spiked the ball and scored. It was clear that the Karasuno team was at the top of their game. Asahi's service ace. The successful attack from the Libero and the captain.

They finally managed to get neck-and-neck with Fukurodani.

* * *

It was regrettable that the match ended with their loss. Bokuto, finally out of his slump, was the one who scored the match point to secure Fukurodani's victory. Their coaches called the team for their final briefing in the camp, encouraging them that their plays just had to be refined, and their new skills would bring them to the national championship. Asami had to agree. Even though they lost, she had definitely seen some progress and surely, they would be a much better team. She had to admit that she was pretty pleased to be a manager of said team.

Karasuno team members finished their final penalty of diving receive drills. As the managers passed the water bottles and towels, she overheard some of them were still going for practice during the little time they had before lunch time. The players from other teams had finished their matches as well, and they decided to take a short break before mealtime, leaving the gym for Karasuno team to use. She was quite amazed. They were really dedicated when it came to volleyball practice.

Her blue eyes started to scan her surroundings, subconsciously trying to find one particular black-haired guy. Asami spotted Kageyama and Hinata talking to each other. She had wanted to talk to the setter, but seeing how the duo was finally on normal talking terms again, she decided against it. She didn't want to disturb the conversation between the two.

It was good that the two guys were acting normally around each other again. She shouldn't feel disappointed that she didn't get to talk to Kageyama. They could talk another time.

Yes, she shouldn't but she felt just a bit down.

…

Weird, why did she feel that way?

"Fuji-chan, let's go," Shimizu called her over, snapping her out of her own random musing. Yachi was standing next to the bespectacled senior. The coaches had called the managers by the coach to help to set up for the barbeque. There were a lot of ingredients –read, meat – and some vegetables which had to be cut. The grills had to be prepared before they could cook the meat. There were quite a number of things to do before mealtime.

"Coming," Asami answered as she followed after the other two managers, pushing her emotion aside.

They had a barbeque party to prepare.


	11. Confused

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: There will be an omake at the end of this chapter. I cannot resist doing an omake with the third years gossiping about their first years. I can totally see them shipping their juniors secretly~

* * *

Asami chewed on her food slowly as she sat with the other managers, listening to their chit-chat quietly.

The managers and the coaches from different schools had helped out with the preparation for the barbecue: setting up disposable cutlery and eating utensils, preparing drinks, cutting vegetables, and grilling meats. Nearing the designated lunch time, the players began to come in, drawn by the enticing smells of cooked meats. Their reaction to the food was almost immediate, salivating once their sight landed on the food on the grills. They took the paper plate and chopsticks and waited with bated breath as the coach of Nekoma congratulated them for completing their training.

Her blue eyes slowly scanned her surrounding, looking at the guys still devouring the meats. Well, most of them. Some with smaller appetites – like Tsukishima and the blonde setter from Nekoma – had stopped eating, although they were bothered by the captains who asked them to eat more. She found Kageyama having an eating competition with Hinata. Why everything had to be a competition between those two she would never understand.

Asami ignored the two who were gobbling their food messily as she finally noticed the person whom she was looking for. Yachi had told her that she was getting some food, but the said girl didn't come back after quite some time. The black-haired girl was surprised at the sight of her classmate looking terrified while being surrounded by much taller guys from other schools. Yachi started to blabber in her panic and ate burnt meats, causing the others to look at her worriedly as she swallowed the charred food.

Without saying much, she quietly slipped away from the group and threw her empty plate and wooden chopsticks to the rubbish bag.

Making her way towards the group and ignored the confused looks she was getting, she tapped on Yachi's shoulder to get her friend's attention. Wordlessly, she offered her friend an opened palm with her other hand grabbed an unused kitchen tong. Blinking owlishly, the brown head automatically passed Asami her empty plate. The black head took it and moved smoothly, filling it with well-grilled meats and vegetables.

"Here, Hitoka-chan," she said as she passed back the plate to her friend.

Yachi looked at her with twinkling eyes, touched by the warm gesture Asami rarely showed openly. "Fuji-chan…"

The black-haired girl didn't say anything. Instead, she shifted her gaze to other guys who were circling her and offered to get them more food from the grill. They accepted the offer gratefully, chatting with her as she placed a stack of meats on their plates.

Once their plates were filled, the guys walked away to find their teammates. Asami and Yachi found themselves an empty spot on the grassy hill to sit on. The black head bent her knees in front of her, circling her arms around them loosely, while the brown head sat with her legs outstretched, enjoying her food. They spent some time in each other's company in silence before she finally asked her friend out of curiosity.

"Why were you freaking out just now?"

"Mm?" Yachi turned her head towards Asami, still chewing her food with her mouth closed.

She did a half-shrug. "I saw you panicking just now when you were surrounded by the guys from other schools. What happened?"

The brown head chewed and swallowed her food quickly. "Uhh, I was just slightly freaked out since they are so tall and have scary look on their faces. Don't you feel intimidated since they are so tall?"

With a small tilt of her head, Asami thought about her friend's question. The two girls were about the same height and it was true that some of the guys were much taller and more muscular as compared to them. When they stood near each other, it was clear that the guys would tower over them. She didn't find them intimidating though. Since she had been interacting with tall guys – like Lev, Kuroo, Tsukishima, and Kageyama – she probably got used being stared down while standing and talking to them. "Well, some of Karasuno members are as tall and scary-looking too, but they're actually nice."

Yachi stared at her, blinking once, and let out a short laugh. "That's true. And I guess I shouldn't judge someone from their look alone."

Nodding in agreement, she stared at the grass in front of her, thoughts drifting on how true the statement was, especially when it came to some Karasuno members. Like how their third-year Ace looked fierce but was actually a softie at heart. The calm and soft-spoken Ennoshita was actually the one who could manage the other two rowdier second years. And that Kageyama was just an awkward boy beneath that scary face.

* * *

"H-hi, Yachi-san, Asami-san."

Asami looked up upon hearing her name being called. Standing in front of them was Yamaguchi, who had a small, nervous smile. His hands holding onto two paper cups. The pinch server offered the drink to the two girls, who took it gratefully. The black-haired girl sipped her drink quietly as her friend talked to Yamaguchi, noticing Tsukishima who was standing slightly behind his childhood friend. A bored look plastered on his face. Her deep blue eyes met Tsukishima's hazel ones. A nod was the only thing they did to acknowledge the other's presence.

Honestly, she was a bit surprised to see the two guys approaching them. She didn't think that they were the type to spend time socializing during a barbeque party. Tsukishima definitely wasn't interested to mingle, but maybe for Yamaguchi, it was different. Although they didn't have many interactions, the freckled-faced boy was friendly and polite whenever they talked. On the other hand, Asami only recently had the chance to properly interact Tsukishima. Just like her, the way he behaved tended to put people off. His sarcastic and blunt replies often irritated people around him. Of course, there were exceptions, including the black-haired girl.

"Fuji-chan, do you want some watermelon too?"

She blinked, realizing that she had been zoning out and lost in her own thoughts. Yachi was standing in front of her, a small smile on her face. Asami politely refused the offer. For some reasons, Yamaguchi and Yachi went together, leaving Tsukishima and her behind. It was weird of him to do that. She would have thought that he would rather join his friend than being with her.

"Are you not going with them?" The black head asked as she placed her chin on top of her knees, looking at him.

The blonde stared at her, unamused.

She stared at him, waiting for his reply.

"…For someone's supposedly smart, you're pretty dense," he commented wryly.

Asami frowned, not quite understanding what he meant. The bespectacled middle blocker let out a small sigh, pointing at their friends who just left with his thumb. She glanced at Yamaguchi and Yachi who were chatting with each other. A slightly shy smile plastered on the boy's face, while the girl had a happy grin. She saw nothing strange between them and shifted his gaze back to the blonde. Her blue eyes met his hazel ones. He looked at her confused expression and shook his head.

"Never mind," he muttered, finishing his drink. His reply caused her to feel even more puzzled and curious. She stood up and stepped down the hill, standing next to the Tsukishima and asking for an explanation. "What is it, Tsukishima-san?" Instead of answering her, he chose to walk away, saying 'I'm getting some drink' as an excuse to ignore her. The black-haired girl trailed slightly behind him, asking him. The only reply she earned after pestering him was an irritated bop on top of her head.

* * *

Her unanswered question kept circling on her mind. She was lost in her own thought, her hands automatically moved to lather soap on the cooking utensils. As she rinsed and put the cleaned tools on a plastic tray, her mind was elsewhere. Working hard to try to understand what the blonde middle-blocker was trying to tell her. Yachi was behaving like her usual self, while Yamaguchi looked a bit nervous when he was talking to Yachi. Maybe Tsukishima was trying to make her see that the freckled-faced boy was a bit on edge, but didn't he always?

There seemed to be nothing amiss.

What in the world did she fail to notice?

Turning off the water tap, Asami dried her hands with a small towel and tidied up the washing area before getting ready to leave. Being the only school not located in Tokyo, Karasuno team had to head back to their hometown after the party. Their teacher had informed them to gather near the school entrance after they helped with the cleanup.

Thinking back about what had happened, it had been a crazy week. The blue-eyed girl came to the camp thinking that she probably would just do her tasks as a manager and finished her writing during her spare time. She thought it would just be a boring, non-eventful week. She was quick to discover that there was not such thing as a dull moment when you hang out around Karasuno volleyball club members. Adding Bokuto and Kuroo into the mix, and it was a sure guarantee for an exciting time. To top it all, she finally saw her school's team growth. Despite herself, she smiled when she was reminded of the moment her heart pounded when she saw Kageyama and Hinata's first successful new quick attack.

"Fuji-chan, are you done? We are leaving soon." The raven head stopped her reflection as Shimizu called her. She approached her senior and they walked together, chit-chatting lightly, having taken their belongings. Yachi had left earlier and was waiting for them near the school entrance. When the brown-haired girl noticed the two raven heads, she smiled brightly, waving at them. Asami saw that it was not just Karasuno members gathering at the school entrance. The whole camp participants were there to send them off. In a quieter corner, the managers wished each other all the best, and of course, Suzumeda ruffled her hair as a parting gesture. The managers from Karasuno moved to stand with their team, looking at the members from other schools.

Kuroo was the first to send them off. "Well, see ya next time."

She heard her captain replied, "Yeah, see you next time."

Waving their hands good-bye, Karasuno team walked away, signifying the end of their summer vacation training camp.

* * *

When they reached their school compound, it was almost midnight. Needless to say, Takeda-sensei told them to go home straight and rest. There was no argument from the team. They would be coming back to school the following day for their usual practice. As they slowly dispersed, Kageyama automatically scanned his surroundings, trying to find Asami. He spotted the black-haired girl talking with the other two managers. The black-haired first-year manager was rubbing her eyes and yawning even as she talked, replying with one word or simply a nod. Her eyes were looking blankly into the space in front of her.

He sighed irritably, noticing her lack of sleep had finally caught up to her and yet she was still behaving as if she's perfectly fine.

The setter approached the managers and stopped near where she stood. "Asami-san," He called as he adjusted his bags which were resting on his left shoulder. "Let's go."

He was staring at the quiet girl that he didn't notice the stunned expressions from the other two managers. Asami looked up at him silently for a few seconds before her brain finally registered what he was saying to her and she eventually nodded. Her hands hung idly on her side and her bag nowhere to be seen.

"…Where is your bag?"

The girl blinked once, twice, looking at her empty hand and over her shoulder before rushing back towards the minibus. Disappearing from sight for a few minutes, she emerged with her bag on her back, looking somewhat flustered. Her cheeks had turned slightly pink. Maybe she was embarrassed at her own forgetfulness. The black-haired girl was walking back towards him when she uncharacteristically tripped over her own feet. He grabbed her arm, stopping her from falling flat into the ground.

The blushes on her cheeks deepened in color. "Sorry," she mumbled, getting her footing back.

Apparently, Asami became clumsy when she's sleep-deprived.

He furrowed his eyebrows, his hand still on her arm. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I just lost my balance for a bit."

He wasn't fully convinced, especially since she still looked so out of it.

Seemingly noticing his frown, she let out a small sigh. "Let's just go."

Kageyama was too preoccupied looking after a clumsy Asami, while the girl's brain was barely functioning at that point. Neither realized the stunned looks coming from the rest of the club members – excluding Tsukishima – who were openly staring at their surprisingly friendly interactions. It was unusual for them to see the setter fretting over someone. And it was _extremely_ odd to see the usually aloof Asami allowing Kageyama to do so to her.

"Wait a second!"

Two hands grabbed him on each shoulder before he could make it to the school gate. He looked to his left and right to see Nishinoya and Tanaka respectively, looking somewhat confused and annoyed. The two spun him around, bringing him down so that they were on the same eye level in a huddle. "Why are you two going home together?"

Kageyama wasn't sure what the two seniors were trying to ask. Asami was his friend, who just so happened also was his neighbor. He thought that it was nothing weird if two friends walked back together. He did it with Hinata most of the time. It confused him that they were so surprised that he went home together with Asami. Were there some kinds of social rules about going home together with friends which he wasn't aware of?

He simply blinked and replied, "We're going towards the same direction. We live in the same neighborhood."

…

"SAY WHAT?!"

* * *

 _**Omake** _ _– Karasuno's third years reactions on Kageyama and Asami going home together_

* * *

"I mean I notice they talk to each other a lot, but I figure that's because Asami-chan is a manager," Sugawara mused. "I don't know that they are that close to go home together."

The captain nodded in agreement with his vice-captain's remarks.

Azumane, walking on the gray-haired guy's other side, smiled. "Well, it's good to see that they get along well with each other. Maybe something will happen between the two."

"That reminds me," Shimizu added. "For some reasons, Suzumeda-san and Shirofuku-san from Fukurodani seem to think that there's something going on between Tsukishima and Asami."

The three guys chorused an "EH?!"

The only female in the group mused. "Something about how the two seem close, but I cannot remember the details of what they said."

Humming, the group fell into silence as each of them processed the new information.

"I personally think Asami-chan will end up with Kageyama," Sawamura said. "Since Kageyama is a bit dense, I bet Asami-chan will be the one to confess first."

Azumane laughed lightly. "I know what you mean, but Tsukishima seems to be a better match with Asami though. Have you noticed how similar the two are? They probably can guess what the other's thinking without saying a word."

"Hmmm true, but Asami seems to be more comfortable with Kageyama. I see her showing more expressions whenever she is near him."

Sugawara joined in the discussion. "I'm onboard with Kageyama-Asami pair! But Asami-chan doesn't look like the type who will confess first." He grinned mischievously. "You know, with the right push, Kageyama will take action."

The captain let out a short bark of laugh. "That's true. Just like how we manage to get him and Hinata to work together. Look at the two now."

Their excited discussion about whom to pair Asami with was interrupted by a cool, calm yet threatening voice.

"Whoever Fuji-chan ends up with, he **better** treats her well."

The other three guys flinched at the icy tone Shimizu used, feeling the temperature around them dropped a few degrees. She had always felt quite protective over her two junior managers. If any of the guy messed up with them, she would make sure that there would hell to pay.

Shimizu quietly added, tone lighter. "Ah, but I think Kageyama and Asami look cuter together."

Sawamura, Sugawara, and Azumane simply nodded, mentally telling themselves to _never_ get on Shimizu's bad side.


End file.
